The Mantle of Remnant
by KtyouVsWriting
Summary: The Master Chief has saved Humanity at the cost of Cortana, one of his few remaining friends. More than he will admit, John relied on her, cared for her. To no longer have her means to lose another part of his humanity. Still the universe keeps going and once again, he is called to serve and protect Mankind. Now he has a choice: does he brave Remnant alone or does he embrace help?
1. OPERATION SCATTERED LIKE HELL

**CHAPTER 1: OPERATION SCATTERED LIKE HELL**

The Master Chief felt his mind returning to consciousness. When he did, he immediately began to assess the status of his body. Aside from the minor injuries he had sustained, he was still fully capable of combat. Once he had determined this, he tested all of his limbs to be sure. His hands curled into fists and then uncurled. His legs moved how he wished them to. No stiff joints. However, when he moved to stand up, he felt pain in certain areas of his body. His lower body felt especially intense. Even so, he powered through and stood up.

He was surrounded by woods and grass. Not a sign of Human life could be found anywhere around him. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but wilderness. This confused him. Earth had a massive population with very few places that could be designated as a natural wild environment. He knew this because on Reach, when he had trained with his brothers and sisters, the wilderness had become their hunting grounds. They had spent many days out in the wilds, learning how to survive, and even though most of the Human-Covenant War involved taking part in missions, campaigns, and operations within urban and city areas, he never forgot the feeling of the wilderness.

_If I've fallen in the wilderness, than I've most likely landed in one of the many preserved areas._ The Chief processed as he stood up. _In any event, I should be able to get a UNSC signal._

"Cortana, can you-" Chief began, then stopped.

It took only a microsecond for him to remember where exactly he had been before he had found himself here, and when his mind came to the realization, his emotions began surface again. Subconsciously, his fist clenched and his breathing hitched slightly. To any soldier in the UNSC, there was nothing wrong with him, but the spartan knew himself perfectly. Any emotional response from himself was abnormal, and this was amongst his more blatant displays because aside from any subconscious action, he was feeling and acknowledging his emotions.

"Cortana." John whispered gravely.

For a moment, he lost himself to his emotions. He could count the number of times he had truly lost control of himself on one hand. The few times that it did happen, it either involved the deaths of his fellow Spartans or the death of Human lives, civilian or military. Human death affected him more than he let on. In no context could the war veteran ever say that taking a life was truly justified morally, but war had taught him the necessity of action over morality, even if said action was reprehensible. It was easier to let out that killer instinct when fighting the Covenant. They were aliens and they were the enemy, but Human lives? Their deaths were simply unacceptable.

Had Cortana evolved in his mind to the point that she was human? Was she more human that he was? Was that why he felt so much over her death? Was he supposed to feel this way about her?

Luck had somehow always gotten him out of places where others had failed, and it wasn't for the first time that he had come to regret that luck. He had survived when others had not, even Spartans. He was supposed to be the sword and shield of Mankind. What good of a sword and shield was he if he was the only survivor left on a battlefield when all was said and done? What use was he if he was incapable of defending those that he had sworn his life to defend? What was he if he was unable to defend the people that he considered his friends, his family?

"Have I truly failed as a Spartan?" For the first time in his life, John doubted himself. "Have I done my duty to Humanity?"

The Master Chief instinctively reached into the back of his helmet to retrieve Cortana's chip, and to his disappointment and sadness, it was no longer there. It had disintegrated when the terminal housing Cortana had disintegrated, taking his AI companion with it. He knew that she wasn't there because he couldn't feel that sensation in his mind when she was there. Every time he inserted her into that slot, her presence was instantly recognizable. At first, it was a feeling of invasion, but soon it became natural like his own breathing. That feeling soon morphed from being an annoyance to being a comfort.

Further musings were interrupted when he heard a growl nearby. Even having missed the sound for nearly three decades, he recognized that sound on instinct. Only a wolf could produce that growl. He rounded his body, and what he saw fit what he imagined yet it sent a feeling of alienation at the same time.

The thing in front of him was definitely wolf-shaped roughly speaking, but there was something wrong with it. It had white plates and white spikes lined on its body. Whatever wasn't covered in white was jet-black with not an inch of fur or hair of any kind. The only other color apparent was red in the eyes and the mask, but it was an empty red, like staring into an alert signal light. It was that red, only devoid of anything living. The final major inconsistency with wolves was that it was enormous, bigger than even he was.

Fighting instinct kicked in and the Master Chief dodged as the creature ran at him and leaped in the air. Once he had seen that, the warrior knew that this thing, despite not being normal-looking, acted like a wolf. With that in mind, he planted his feet in place, waiting for it to turn around and come back at him.

The wolf-like creature charged again, gaining some momentum, then once again leaped into the air. The Spartan responded when the jaws came within arms reach, swiftly retrieving his combat knife from its slot within the MJOLNIR Mark VI armor and rammed it into the eye, the force of his blow enough to throw it to his left. This gave him enough time to throw a fist. The result was a major dent in its head. This seemed to be enough for the thing to go limp without a trace of life.

Then came an even bigger surprise. The black monster began to disintegrate into thin air, transforming into a black mist, dissipating into the atmosphere. The Chief reached his gauntlet out to touch the creature, only to have a part break off and dissolve as well. The only thing he could do now was watch as his target disappeared into nothingness, the only traces being some black dust on the ground and his knife.

_What was that?_ John thought, having never seen anything like this before. _It doesn't look like anything the Covenant would use. Could it be Forerunner? No… it doesn't fit with what I've seen. The Flood? No, it doesn't appear to be the Flood."_

In any event, he was in hostile territory right now. It would seem that his new mission was to establish contact with the UNSC while evading enemies and eliminating threats when needed. Whatever his thoughts and feelings concerning previous events would be filed away for further investigation, even if he had a bad feeling about all of this. It looked like his comms were still fully functional, but he wasn't receiving any signals on UNSC broadbands. That seemed highly unlikely considering that he should be on Earth.

_Why am I not receiving any UNSC signals?_ The Master Chief asked himself, feeling a bit uneasy in the process. _Let's try again._

"This is Sierra 117. Does anyone copy on this frequency?" His inquiry was met with silence, so he tried again. "This is Spartan 117. Does anyone read me, over?"

Nothing.

The Spartan reached to his back to retrieve his battle rifle and then also remembered that he had lost his primary weapon when he had engaged the Didact. The only thing he had left was his combat knife and his M6D magnum, so he was grossly unprepared for a fight and there was no telling if he would have to engage more enemies on his way to finding a UNSC position. While he could and would make do with what he had, he felt exposed. The feeling that he was exposed without weapons was alarming. As he had learned from his training and from reminding his fellow spartans many times, the greatest weapon that any individual had, Spartan or not, was their own body and mind.

John shook off his doubt and steeled himself for what was to come. He was better than this. He had to be better than this. No more doubt, no more second-guessing, no more reservations, no more hesitation. It was time to set out and figure out his situation. Whatever would come, he would face it with all that he had and he would win, just like always. There was no room for failure.

With his steps heavy, he armed himself with his M6D pistol, checked the position of the sun and judged north to be roughly at his four o'clock. He could be doing this for a while, so he mentally prepared himself for a long trek.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

As the Master Chief travelled further and further away from his place of landing, it became abundantly clear that there was something off, or rather a lot of things were off. This was a funny feeling, like the funny feelings that Kurt-051 used to have.

The first obvious clue that something was amiss were these black creatures that kept attacking at inconsistent times, but still with enough frequency to alert him that they might be native to this region at least. Never in his entire career had he ever seen any animal like this. He wasn't even sure if calling these things animals was right. They displayed the right characteristics, traits, behaviors and patterns of wild animals, but they had something no ordinary animal had: motivation. They were clearly intent on killing him, and though the Spartan was able to fight back with ease, it did make him ponder.

The second obvious clue that something was wrong was the fact that he had been travelling for the better part of ninety-six minutes and he had not received a single UNSC frequency, not even a rough signal. That said, he had received a garbled signal for a brief moment before he lost it. It had to be a civilian line though considering that he didn't recognize the channel or the brief words exchanged. There were none of the expected callsigns, rank identification, or any indicator of UNSC protocol.

The final clue that things weren't right came in the form of his own HUD showing no signs of familiar terrain that was associated with Earth. Even having only been to the human homeworld only once in his life, John had made sure to familiarize himself with the planet. He had even the clearance to survey a full 3D map coupled with details of the terrain, the wildlife, anything that a soldier would need to know in order to do their job. So far, his MJOLNIR armor wasn't detecting anything resembling familiar terrain, and although the suit was relatively dated by modern UNSC standards, it was still a useful piece of equipment.

And on the subject of his armor, much to his chagrin, his energy shields were offline, leaving him only the armor itself to protect him. By no means was he inept at understanding MJOLNIR and its systems, but he was no Catherine Halsey; he knew how to maintain the armor and do some performance diagnostics, but he wasn't capable of drastic armor repairs or software overhauls or anything that required taking the armor apart, fixing it, and putting it back together in any manner whatsoever. That meant for the time being the MJOLNIR Mark-VI was just armor and he was going to have to keep that in mind going forward. He had deactivated his shield bar on his HUD and pressed on.

John felt himself wince in pain slightly as he moved his body. This little hike of his was giving him more of an idea what his body's condition was in. His battle with the Didact had left him in quite the agonizing state. Even now he was still feeling the after effects of the encounter. Though his body was superior to that of normal humans, the pain was still there, subsiding to be sure, but still present. Sooner or later, he was going to have to figure out what exactly was his physical condition and if there were any injuries that were severe, he would need to find proper medical attention. MJOLNIR might be giving him a rundown of his body, but considering the state of the energy shields, there was no telling what other damage that the armor had sustained, hardware-wise or software-wise.

The Chief halted in his tracks as his sensitive hearing picked up more growls and roars from those black creatures, but they were coming from his ten o'clock, and they were lots of them judging by what he could hear. They weren't getting closer to him and that thought came with it a question: what were they converging on? Or maybe it would have been better to ask who were they converging on? These things seemed more likely to attack something alive than objects or things. With his sidearm in one hand and his knife in the other hand, he carefully advanced, his body and mind coordinating his stealth training and knowledge together and putting them into action.

Once he was past a thick of trees, he found himself on a high cliff edge that afforded him a view of his surroundings. Disregarding MJOLNIR's readings, his own eyes quickly scanned his surroundings. Nothing struck him as unusual or out of place at first. It was a temperate forest environment by the look of things. Nothing here indicated any form of civilization Human or otherwise.

Then his eyes spotted something close by: a column of smoke, and it didn't look like it was caused by a natural disaster.

Spartan time began to kick in and in spite of his pain, the warrior took off as fast as he could. His running start let him gain a lot of air and had him careening over the cliff. He made his body as streamline as possible, keeping straight until the time was right. With just a few seconds before hitting the ground, he activated his Promethean Hardlight Shield, using it as insulation. The impact was hard, but thankfully the shield combined with MJOLNIR's resistance allowed him to return to sprinting with no additional damage.

Then he heard what he had been hearing for the better part of nearly three decades. It was a scream, and not just any scream. It was the sound of a scream for help.

A child's scream for help.

_Not on my watch._ The Master Chief declared to himself.

His movements carried him to the direction that he heard the scream coming from. Judging by the intensity, he didn't have much time. He briskly whipped past the trees, the boulders, the grass. His eyes and ears were carefully focusing on his surroundings.

He caught sight of another black monster, this one shaped like a massive bear. Those familiar white platings and spikes were the same, and it appeared to be swiping at something. Another scream, and this time, the Spartan could distinctly make the voice out to be female.

John moved to engage. Thankfully, its back was turned to him, so he went to execute a simple move that would ensure a quick death. He took a running start and leaped a few meters into the air. Carefully planning his trajectory, he used his weight to off-balance the giant thing before plowing his knife into its neck. It resisted for only a second or two before weakening and being reduced to lifeless ashes. He still wasn't used to his enemies literally vanishing into thin air, so he watched it disappear before doing anything else.

Once that was done, he looked down at the foot of the tree he was nearby. Huddled between two tree roots growing out of the ground was a little girl that was probably no older that six years old. She had black hair and bright green eyes. She did not appear injured severely with only a few minor cuts and scratches along her arms and legs. That was not what got his attention however. What did grab his attention were the strange appendages sticking on the top of her head. Unless his eyes were mistaken, and they almost never were, then he was seeing what looked like a pair of cat ears on top. He could also spot normal ears as well. He was genuinely confused at this. Since when had Humans grown additional features like this?

Further questions were cut short when another distant pack of roars echoed. Stowing away his curiosity, the Master Chief sheathed his weapons, lowered himself to one knee and slowly reached out a hand. He knew that children were easily intimidated by his presence, so he needed to present the most non-threatening demeanor possible. If that didn't work, then he would play his ultimate trump card. It always worked with children.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said softly, stretching out one hand.

"W-who… a-are you?" The little girl trembled when asking.

He thought about giving her his moniker. Everyone knew to call him Chief or Master Chief, but then he paused for another microsecond. For some reason, he felt somewhat distant from his rank, like it was no longer his identity, but rather a title meant to shackle him to a specific mode of operation.

_Like a machine restricted to do what it was made to do._He could almost hear Cortana saying that now. _Are you a machine or not?_

Against all rationale telling him not to give anything but his rank, he disregarded protocol again.

"My name is John." He produced his other hand. "I'll protect you."

The girl hesitated for another moment before she decided to reach out with both of her hands, her caution present, but dispersing quickly. With his augmented body, he could hurt her easily if he was not careful, so with a touch as light as a feather, he grasped her tiny hands and gently lifted her into his left arm.

"What is your name?" The Chief asked her, shifting his body to keep her from being hurt by his armor.

"L-L-Lilac." The girl whimpered to him, unable to look him at his visor.

"Where are your parents?" The Spartan decided to keep her focused on something else other than himself. "Why are you alone?"

"P-Papa said to r-run!" Lilac began to sob while speaking, as if remembering something she had forgotten. "H-he said to get away from the G-Grimm!"

"The Grimm?" John asked her, not sure what she was referring to.

"T-the monster!" She blubbered. "The b-black and white monsters!"

The Master Chief wasn't familiar with the term Grimm, and judging by this girl's way of using the term, it sounded like a commonplace term to call these creatures. He certainly had never heard of the word Grimm used as anything other than an adjective to describe a situation that was bleak.

One thing was for sure now: he was definitely not on Earth anymore.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

The village of Vermillion was called its namesake due to the amazing sunrises and sunsets that it was known for. They were beautiful and they were unforgettable. Living away from the territory of the Kingdom of Vale was dangerous to be sure. Between bandits and Grimm that could be roaming around, it was a wonder that the village still stood strong and kept up a sizeable population. Even with the villagers all trained in some form of self-defense, it was still a rough life, but it was home.

Then this massive Grimm attack came out of nowhere. The beasts were relentless and brutal. It was rather unexpected to be sure and nobody knew how it started. As far as everyone was aware of, not a lot of people were feeling negative, thus there was no concentration of negative energy for the Grimm to be sensing. Still, if Grimm saw Humans or Faunus, then they may as well be a rage generators to the monsters.

The defenders were immediately on the case, yet the sheer number of Grimm this time prevented them from keeping them out. As good as they were in preventing the things from getting in, none of them were huntsmen or huntresses, merely men and women defending their homes with a lot of lives on the line. The reality of the line not holding was now beginning to settle in hard. There was no telling how many were dead or wounded. At this point, it was a mad dash to hold onto life.

A man was holding onto his unconscious wife, trying desperately to ignore the gash in his side. When the going got tough, he all but ordered his daughter to flee and hide in their safe spot. It was probably the most stupid thing he had ever done in his life, but it was a lot better than her being in the epicenter of the Grimm attack. If she continued to follow the path and got to the hiding spot, then she could be picked up by a traveller or maybe even a huntsman, ride out the storm.

It was wishful thinking, but he was desperate.

"Shit!" He noticed a Nevermore in the sky.

His head turned when he heard the woman close to him began to mumble something. She was somewhere between conscious and unconscious.

"May!" He called to her.

"Patrick." She called back to him, almost as if she could hear his voice.

"Stay with me!" He said to her. "Don't go anywhere!"

His adrenaline now picking up, he looked left and right, desperate to find some reprieve from this madness. He saw everyone scattered, bloody, or dead. Nothing made sense, nothing was going right, nothing was-

A Beowolf overshadowed him, and despite his instincts trying to tell him to run, a chill ran down his spine, almost freezing his body, preventing him from moving. He could only look up at the Grimm that looked at him as if he would be a satisfactory meal. Then he could only shift his own body in order shield his own wife in a vain attempt to protect her. He might buy her a few more seconds.

The blow that was anticipated never came though. In fact, in the place of Grimm he was hearing gunfire instead, but unlike the weapons fire that he was used to hearing from the patrols, this one was much louder, much more powerful, and completely alien in its sound. Following that gunfire, there was not silence, but less roars and screeches.

He looked up to witness a sight that he had never seen in his life. A massive body, an armored giant stood fighting the Grimm. The strength and speed on display could only be comparable to that of huntsmen and huntresses, and yet there was something more machine than man to the fighting style. There were no flashy moves, no theatrics, just simply efficient and effective combat meant to kill. These traits were not the marks of a huntsman or huntress. These were the qualities of a soldier.

A temporary grapple with a Beowolf, a clean knife into the side of its throat. A kick strong enough to send a smaller Ursa flying into a building. Swift and practiced evasive maneuvers to avoid a claw aimed at the midsection. Deft footwork and positioning to slay two Grimm at the same time, one with a pistol and the other with the knife. Using momentum and the weight of the body to deliver a clean snap of the neck. It was brutal, it was deadly, and it was frightening. There was not a trace of hesitation or pause. It was almost like a Grimm taking human form.

"C'mon, Pat, we've gotta go!" A voice snapped him out of his trance. "Move!"

The man looked up to see one of his best friends Cole Potter helping him up. He was one of the guards, and he looked to be in fairly decent shape. He quickly got up, checking his wife to make sure she was safe.

"What the hell was that?" Patrick asked.

"I don't know, but he's saving our asses, thank the Gods." Cole spoke in a fleeting tone. "C'mon, this way!"

It looked like the Grimm were slowly dwindling in numbers. Whether that was the efforts of the village guard or this new giant, Patrick wasn't sure, but the only thing that mattered right now was getting his loved one to safety. Then he would go find his daughter. She had to be alive out there somewhere. She had to be.

_Please be okay, Lilac. _He whispered a small prayer.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

Leaving Lilac behind had been a tough choice, but in order to save this village, he relucantly placed the girl in a small alcove that would be near impossible for any Grimm to get at and told her to not move a muscle until he came back for her.

Now he was getting to work.

The Spartan pummelled his right fist into the side of another black wolf's head, shattering its skull. He then swiftly sideskirted a claw meant for his backside, jumping into a roll, then throwing his knife into the eye of another black wolf. The creature writhed in pain and he then began to wrestle with its head. With a free hand, he grabbed the knife handle and used his strength to make a deep slice through to the other eye, effectively cutting off a piece of its head. Once the piece came off, so too did the rest of the body.

With a brief moment to catch his breath and gather his thoughts, he quickly surveyed his surroundings. This village was strangely well-protected and well-thought-of for a non-military location. These people must've been used to these Grimm attacking him. This time, there had to have been something different. Maybe the monsters had gotten smarter or maybe they came with more numbers.

The Master Chief had been going through the town, saving people and killing the Grimm as fast as he could. So far, casualties looked to be relatively high when taking into account his rough estimations for the number of people living here. He had coordinated with a few of the guards and they had directed him to the area where the Grimm were most prevalent. Apparently, he had been warned that there might be some airborne species as well, which made him alter his strategies accordingly. So far, his only contact with the enemy had been on the ground, but he kept his senses sharp for any air attacks.

His motions sensors were picking up fewer dots, leaving him more time to assess the status of some of the civilians. He spotted a young boy trapped under a piece of a building. He rushed over, pulled the debris from the child's body before lifting him into his arms. He spotted a face he recognized, one of the guards that had let him into the community. Careful not to disturb any wounds from the boy, he made his way over.

"Gray!" The man was quick to receive the boy. "You're gonna be okay!"

"How many more are inside the walls?" Spartan 117 asked the man.

"There may be more at the town square." The guard pointed to their right. "Take that path, then take a left. You should see a fountain, can't miss it."

"Understood." John nodded before taking off.

The next ten minutes was spent eradicating any Grimm that tried to get in his way. He had long since stopped using his magnum to conserve what little ammunition he had left, now only engaging in straight-up unarmed combat with the occasional use of his knife. It had been some time since he had gone into battle like this, but his training had prepared him for such a scenario and he wasn't a Spartan II for nothing.

Once he saw the fountain, his helmeted head quickly scanned left and right. The Grimm here were more in numbers. There had to be a sizeable group here, but there was no sign of anyone around. They must be hiding somewhere closeby. He quickly identified ten Grimm within his immediate sightline. Two wolves, two bears, one snake, one boar, two gorillas, and two snakes. The variety was going to force him to adapt on the fly and that wasn't accounting for those that would definitely come his way.

The Master Chief felt his body scream in pain once again. This was due to the biofoam injectors in MJOLNIR applying aid to his wounds. It was painful, but he had been forcing himself to think of the battle and saving lives. He might be able to keep doing this for a while longer, but biofoam was only temporary. Plus, the more he moved, the more he agitated his wounds and risked more damage, but even so, he had a duty to protect Humanity. His injuries were something he just have to power through.

The super soldier charged into the fray to attack. The moment he did, the Grimm detected his presence and moved to intercept him. He called upon his knowledge of animal wildlife, finding himself thinking less consciously and acting more instinctually. In the first years of his training, John and his fellow Spartans became intimately familiar with all sorts of wildlife. More often than not, that wildlife had been a great source of the squad's energy and in the spirit of Spartan training, they learned quickly to observe and watch for patterns in animal behavior.

The first one, a snake, tried to bite him, but he grabbed its razor-sharp fangs with his own hands before snapping off the sharp things and shoving it into its eyes. He then propelled himself into a side kick. The combined might of his augmented body and the further enhancements of his MJOLNIR armor gave him enough force to knock the wolf trying to kill him. He then retreated into a backroll when two paws slammed into the ground trying to crush him. He then swiftly got to his feet and charged forward. His fist collided with enough force to send a bear's head reeling back. In the process, his boot connected with another head.

John's focus on destroying the enemy battled with his desire to protect the people in this village. While he was taking out the enemy with extreme prejudice, he was trying to minimize damage to the environment. With the wilderness being what it was, he assumed that these people likely would have to travel far if they hoped to reach any other form of civilization if their home was destroyed.

The sound of a screech brought his focus to the sky. From the horizon, he spotted a black figure coming in at a fast rate. It could be easily mistaken as just a bird in the distance, but with his enhanced eyes, Chief could see that it was anything but a bird. Its black and white color scheme and red eyes could make it nothing else but another species of Grimm. To make matters worse, it wasn't merely a flying bird, but a very large flying bird. Its sheer size made his pistol lackluster at best and ineffective at worst.

Looking around, Spartan 117 could see the many Grimm appearing and cautiously approaching him. These creatures seemed to realize his situation and yet there were not so foolish as to just jump into the fray after having witnessed their numbers go down quite a bit. Things were not looking too good.

* * *

**One thing that's always puzzled me about Halo stories is how little we get to see the Master Chief fight by himself. Sure, his relationship with Cortana is near-unbreakable and they are great friends, but I can't help but think that John's overall importance is diminished by her being there. Let's not forget that Spartans are super soldiers, the equivalent to special forces soldiers, and these guys are no pushovers.**

**The other reason to have Chief as the sole protagonist of this story is to explore his humanity and see how he would operate without the help of Cortana. I believe that even without her, he is still strong and is still capable of making his own choices. Damaged though the Chief is, he is still human somewhere deep down.**

**So what do you all think of this pilot chapter? Leave a review and if you want to see more, please show your support.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

_**"The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence."**_

**Denis Waitley**


	2. OPERATION ADJUST AND ACCELERATE

**CHAPTER 2: OPERATION ADJUST AND ACCELERATE**

**1831 Hours, July 24, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Unknown Planet, Unknown Location**

The Master Chief swerved his body to fit between two paws swiping at him. When he was within reach of the ground, he stuck his arms out, then sprung himself back to his feet, once again avoiding more paws moving his way. He then narrowly tucked his body in to avoid a swooping overhead claw. Rolling forward, he felt impacts where he had been mere moments ago. Rising up, he swerved his body to dodge a sideways attack. Moving his body on sheer instinct and intuition, he was able to keep himself from enduring further harm. With no energy shields and being injured himself, he was taking every movement seriously. Every intent to harm he treated as a one-shot lethal blow.

It wasn't quite Spartan Time as Kelly had dubbed the phenomenon. This was simply instinctual movement backed up by decades of honed training and experience. His senses all warned him of danger and he moved his body accordingly. That did not mean he took this lightly. On the contrary, he was making a considerable effort in fighting right now. It felt like all of the recuperation time before his pursuing of the Didact had been thrown out the window so to speak. Right now, he was using more willpower to keep his body from doing anything that was not desirable right now.

John punched one of the wolves to the head, making it fall to the ground before stomping on its neck, killing it quickly. He then brought up his Hardlight Shield to block a giant bear putting its weight against his strength. With a slightly growly, he threw more strength into pushing back, then proceeding to use the see-through defensive tool as a battering ram. The monstrous-looking bear fell on its back. The Spartan then use one edge of the shield to decapitate the thing. He deactivated the shield and got into ready position.

Dealing with land-based Grimm, as the little girl called them, was manageable, but that flying abomination above him was another problem. He doubted his M6D was enough to take it down. His knife wasn't much use on a target that was in the sky. Furthermore, its constant swooping attacks ensured that he could never really get a handle on it for long. He would need to get real creative. The best he could hope for was a way to take it down so that it couldn't get away from him.

_I need to clip its wings._ The Chief determined. _The question is how do I get close enough to do damage?_

His mind began to race and time began to slow down as he processed his next move. He could jump high, but without boosters, he wasn't going to go nearly as far as he needed to go. If he was going to get up there to take the overgrown bird down, he would need help. He thought about it some more as fractions of a second ticked by. Putting together all the information he had about fighting these things thus far, an idea popped into mind.

These Grimm came in all shapes and sizes. One look around and it was clear that he was attracting more dangerous enemies. Another bear, this one at least twice his own height moved in to intercept him. It seemed like for as many as he cleared out, there were more to take the place of the fallen. It was a one-Spartan suicide run; he wasn't expecting help from these villagers because they were busy with their evacuation. They had their jobs and he had his own, simple as that.

It was then that an idea dawned on him, a borderline reckless one, but this wasn't the time to be picky about his means of survival.

Spartan 117 took a glance at his motion sensor, then took a moment to prepare himself. He first took off in a sprint, causing him to become a blur too fast for the naked eye to see. In this instance, this was when true Spartan Time kicked into gear. Everything became a blur to his senses as he approached a smaller wolf Grimm. Once he had gained enough momentum, he leaped pushing himself and MJOLNIR to the limit. He attained enough elevation so that his left foot touched its back. His next leap was higher than his first thanks to the unwitting elevation. He did this several times, piggybacking on the previous Grimm until he saw the flying one come closer, trying to clip him again. When he had achieved enough height, he leaped for a final time, grabbing onto the giant monster as it swung by to try and skewer him.

The moment he grabbed onto its side, the creature began to do everything in its power to shake him off, but John held on for all that he could. He slowly began to make his way up its side and onto its back. The first attempt at trying to get him off was to spin in a circle. This only made the warrior hold onto the bird harder. The second attempt involved zig-zag flying, but still he held fast. The third was erratic flying patterns with no logic and it still wasn't enough for him to let go.

The Master Chief had slowly but surely made his way up its side and onto its back. Still the overgrown abomination wouldn't let up in its attempts to remove him from itself. Eventually, he reached a point where he could aptly swing his helmeted head around and see both wings in his line of sight. Now he was waiting for the right shift in positioning. The turbulence was quite violent; it reminded him of when he was flying in-atmosphere on nothing but a piece of searing metal.

The Spartan felt the winged Grimm once again moving itself to become more diagonal in relation to the ground. That was when he executed what looked like a suicidal move and completely disengaged from the Grimm. Letting gravity take him as it saw fit, he held his knife with both hands firmly planted on the grip. He didn't know if the blade was strong enough to cut through it, but he soon found himself sliding down the left wing while making a clean cut right down the length of the appendage. He travelled for a few meters before resistance with the knife ended and he was free-falling.

John twisted his body and made himself as straight as possible. These types of hard-landings were tough to execute and if not done right, he would be killed on impact. Just a hundred meters until impact. Once again, he activated his Hardlight Shield. Simultaneously he increased the pressure of hydrostatic gel around his body to limit, taking care to not tax the system too much. Just as he was about to make contact with the ground, he found himself floating a few feet off the ground before he descended slowly, touching the ground with barely a whisper.

_What was that?_ The Spartan stood up and looked around for anything that would've slowed his descent, but found nothing except the man that had given him directions earlier.

"I thought you could use a bit of help." The man named Cole spoke. "Glad to see that you're okay. Hell of a show you put on."

"What's the status of the evacuation?" The Chief elected to ignore what had just happened for now.

"Most of our people are evacuated to a safe point." The man reported after a pause. "We've got some injuries, but no deaths thankfully."

John nodded. "And the flying one?"

"It got impaled by some trees. Guess the smaller ones saw cause they're bugging out." Cole responded. "Our men are finishing off any stragglers."

"Good." The augmented supersoldier felt slight relief.

He had been through some intense fights in his thirty-plus years of service, but never had he fought in such a strange way before. All of this was more than he had ever anticipated, yet given his extensive experience with the Covenant, the Flood, and the Forerunners, he couldn't say that all of this was particularly shocking or otherwise awe-inspiring. Certain this was another unusual encounter to put on his long list of accomplishments, but in comparison to galactic-scale events, this was minor.

"Thank you for saving us." The shorter man held out a hand. "We would've been overrun if not for you."

The Master Chief regarded the hand in front of him. Even as damaged as MJOLNIR was, he could easily crush this appendage. His gauntlet was made to contend with Elites and Brutes after all. A non-augmented Human was far inferior in terms of raw strength to the two strongest species of the former Covenant Empire. Still, he accepted the gesture, shaking the hand as a sign of acceptance of the gratitude.

"The honor is mine." Spartan 117 said.

"If there's anything we can do for you, just say the word." Cole retreated from the handshake. "We might not be able to give you much, but we'll do whatever's in our power."

"...there are a few things I could use." The armor-clad fighter began.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

John found the girl Lilac in the exact same place he had left her. This time though when she saw him, she instantly relaxed and when he reached out for her, she didn't hesitate to get up. Knowing that it would be faster for him to carry her back to the village, he held her firmly and took off at a light jog. It was not the fastest that he could run, but in light of the situation, he could afford to be relaxed, though his senses were on high alert watching for any indication of enemy contacts.

"A-are the Grimm gone?" Lilac stared into his visor.

"They are." The Chief affirmed to her. "You're safe now."

"Thank you." She pressed herself against his armored chest.

The gesture was odd to the war veteran. The only time he had seen this sort of gesture was from non-spartans. Many times during the Human-Covenant War, he had seen civilians and soldiers engaged in the act of embracing each other. According to what he had heard from fellow soldiers he served with, these were all gestures of familial love and affection. All of these actions could be interpreted as a breach of military protocol in regards to the conduct of the men and women in service to the UNSC. In this instance, protocol breaches seemed irrelevant.

It made him think of his last conversation with Cortana, but he forced that memory away.

The Master Chief did not know much about how to show care to others apart from what he and his fellow spartans shared in private, but he could discern this much: this girl trusted him to keep her safe and he although he had made no verbal promises to do so, in his mind he would fight for her ability to keep living. He had to.

The journey from the forest back to the partially-destroyed village was brief and thankfully danger-free. He was instantly greeted by the guards who simply waved him after seeing Lilac in his arms. There was a doctor here somewhere tending to the wounded in an unexpectedly intact clinic located just a few buildings away from the entrance. With all the damage sustained, the fact that a medical facility was still in one piece was nothing short of a miracle. In any case, these people were safe for now.

"Lilac!" A woman's voice. "You're safe!"

"Mama!" The little girl called out.

With his mind working faster than a mile a minute, the spartan pinpointed where the feminine voice had originated from. It was from his eleven o'clock and the woman in question bore a striking resemblance to the female child he held in his hands. That had to Lilac's mother and besides the woman was a man with green eyes and black hair. Like their daughter, both parents possessed animal traits. The woman had a pair of feline ears atop her head while the man had what appeared to be a cat tail.

John kneeled down in front of the pair and Lilac leapt into her parents' arms. It appeared the bond between parents and child was quite strong. Also, now that he wasn't in a life or death situation, he couldn't help but notice the strange animal features. In fact, quite a few of these people had varying traits that conveyed a connection with some type of animal. What spawned these traits? How did they come to be? Did they come with the benefits and perks associated with the life form?

"Thank you so much." The father said. "My name is Patrick and this is my wife May. We can't thank you enough for saving our daughter."

"I was merely doing my duty." The Chief courteously intoned. "Nothing more."

"Thank you in any case." May, as she was identified, chimed in. "Truly, you have our eternal gratitude."

"You are welcome." Again, the war veteran accepted praise.

"That armor looks like advanced technology." Patrick looked him up and down. "Are you from Atlas?"

John had never heard of a place called Atlas, but it sounded like a place that he ought to know. There had been a multitude of terms and words used that didn't register with him the same way as it did with these civilians. He needed to collect more information before planning out his next move. In order to do that, he would need to blend in as much as possible and keep himself as anonymous as possible. It had been a while since he had done any sort of operation that required precision and delicacy, but he still had his training to guide him through the necessary steps and precautions.

The first thing he needed to do was to at least pretend to understand the verbiage being utilized.

"No, I'm not from Atlas." The Chief formulated an answer and voiced it. "I'm just a traveller."

It wasn't a lie and it did contain a grain of truth. As a soldier, he was required to go where his missions dicacted, so in that sense he was a traveller. As long as he told the truth in some fashion, what he said would be far more believable.

"I see." The man looked him up and down.

"Excuse me sir?" A new voice entered into the conversation.

This one was a Human male in his mid to late fifties from the looks of him. His blonde hair was mixed with elements of gray. His posture indicated discipline and control. Perhaps he was a soldier or a warrior of some kind.

"I'm Copper Clarke, the mayor of Vermillion." The aging man introduced himself. "On behalf of all my townsmen and townswomen, I would like to personally thank you for saving our lives."

"I was only doing my best to help." Spartan 117 nodded once. "I would do it again if needed."

"Good man." Mister Clarke looked him up and down. "As I'm sure you've been told many times, anything we can do to repay this favor, we'll do our best."

"There are only a few things that I need." The Master Chief said. "Food and water, any medical supplies you can spare, and some information."

"We might be a bit tight on food and medical supplies, but we can spare information." Copper didn't hesitate. "But if I may ask, what's a fighter like yourself doing without aura? I would think that if you're going to be engaging Grimm, you ought to bring everything you can to the table? That is how huntsman operate right? What about weapons?"

The supersoldier blinked behind his helmet. "I have simply found no use for aura nor have I ever needed it. As for weapons, I was in a situation which required me to abandon them."

Aura, another term that appeared to be critical and especially so if it was useful for fighting Grimm, but asking about it would come off as too suspicious. He had already proven himself to these people that he was capable of combat without this aura. To ask about it now would be to invite more questions that could lead down paths that he would rather not have to explain to these people. Getting back to the point, he had no clue was aura was, but he was going to pretend like he did.

"Well, I would say that having aura is better than medical help." Copper intoned. "It does away with medical supplies in the field. Food and water become the only necessities."

John frowned behind his helmet as he processed this type of information. It aura was an alternative for medical supplies, then he would most certainly would like to gain access to it, but what were the strengths and weaknesses? Would his use of it be far greater than constantly carrying around medical supplies? Could it be used to help others? He had so many questions regarding how to use it, but how would he be able to get the answers he needed without exposing himself?

"Would you at least consider staying the night and getting a full night of rest before departing?"

Despite his mind telling him that he should leave this place and find his own way, he felt his body weaken slightly at the mention of rest. Although he had eaten properly, remained hydrated, and slept plenty before his assault on the Didact, he did need to at least let his body recover from the multitude of wounds he had sustained. Plus, he needed to find out whether or not he would be able to get his energy shields back online.

"Very well, but I must be going first thing in the morning." The Master Chief finally acknowledged.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

The Spartan went over his own plans. He was to wake up at 0430 hours and depart by 0500 at the latest. In preparation for this, the villagers had provided whatever supplies they could to him. In the spirit of taking only what was necessary, he had only packed several days worth of supplies. He had seen some wildlife in these forests as well as what looked like edible plants. If push came to shove, he could survive on nature's bounty. His training in his childhood had prepared him for the possibility and more than once he had employed it during his time in the war.

John had also been given a map courtesy of the village leader. Since none of maps in his suit systems were of any use in navigating the landscape, he had to go back to old-fashioned paper maps. Fortunately, it was easy enough to read and get a bead on. He was on a continent called Saunus, the largest in this world. Yes, he had confirmed that this planet was called Remnant. The subject had come up through conversation and the information was obtained indirectly, but there it was. There was a great deal more that he had to learn and to do that, he would have to travel wherever he could and make.

Getting back on topic, Sanus contained two of the four major nations in the world, or kingdoms to be more appropriate. The closest kingdom to his location would be Vale, but it was still quite a distance off. He would have to travel for at least two weeks and that was if he aimed to make good time. However, he had also learned that while the four kingdoms of the world enjoyed the luxury of having the ability to fend off the Grimm for the most part, villages had to find their own ways to fight without assistance.

The Master Chief was only going off what these people were telling him, but he believed that he needed to get a feeling for the situation in the untamed parts of the land before making his way to Vale. Once he had a clear picture of what was going on, he would be able to decide how best to proceed. Although he did desire to return to the UNSC and report in, he still did have a duty to protect Humanity at all costs and he would do it regardless of whether or not these humans were part of the UNSC or not.

The other thing that had the man confused was this Faunus-Human conundrum. Apparently, the people that had animal features were called Faunus, or at least that's what he had deduced based on what he had picked out. There seemed to be no explanation as to why Faunus and Humans were different, just that they were. That must mean that for as long as recorded history existed on this world, so too did both species.

John expected to be more nervous around the Faunus at the news that they were distinct from Mankind, but whenever he looked at them, he received no threatening vibes from them. As best as he could tell, they were the same as Humans expect with some physical additions that possibly added the benefits of enhanced senses. There was also the fact that there were plenty of children in this village with a Faunus and a Human parent biologically speaking. Everybody seemed to be perfectly at ease with each other regardless of who they were. This place must have a tight-knit community to behave so familiarly.

The combat veteran folded the map he was studying and took a look into the sky. The sun was almost gone and it was about time for him to get some shut-eye before he set off. There was little else he could do right now. Everything he needed for traversing the wilds of these lands was close by. He intended to remain constantly mobile, only intended to do his duty and then disappearing as quietly as he could.

There was one other outstanding issue: MJOLNIR needed to be looked over thoroughly in order for the energy shield to be fixed. The armor was fully functional save for that one problem. This seemed all the more perplexing giving that the fusion generator had sustained no damage. Another physical component must be damaged. Alone and without any means of contacting the UNSC, he trusted absolutely no one to look at the MJOLNIR Mark VI. Either he would have to wait until he found his way back to friendlies or he would have to fix it himself. Neither choices were ideal, but given his situation, the second option was starting to become the only option worth exploring.

When he had run out of things to think about in regards to his mission priorities, his equipment, and his own personal survival, his thoughts turned to his life. He thought back to his earliest memories, a time before he became a Spartan. Although he had not given excessive thought to the life that was no longer relevant to him, a handful of times he wondered about that life.

He knew that he had once had a normal childhood with a father and a mother. Never could he remember his father's face no matter how much he dug into his mind nor the dreams that came to him when he slept. He could only recall his mother, her kindness and how she smelled of soap. He could recall her face in great detail. The fact that he could recall this many details about her even after four decades of not seeing her had to mean he loved her a lot as a child. Those were the earliest memories he could recall.

The ones that were vivid and clearly in his mind were the times spent with his brothers and sisters, the family of Spartan II's. Not a day went by that he didn't think about all of them. There were seventy-five of them, including himself. Even with the death of so many of them, he would never allow himself to forget them. No matter how death had taken them, they were all Spartans and they would all be Spartans for the rest of their days. He had once promised himself that they would never be able to rest until the Human-Covenant War was over. That war was indeed over, that much he had learned during his brief return to the UNSC. The Storm Covenant were remnants and hardly as powerful as the Covenant.

So why did it feel like he couldn't put the Spartan-II's to rest?

"Mister John!" A voice called his name.

He turned his head at the use of his name. Hearing it coming from someone that wasn't someone he considered family was strange. Even more strange was that it was coming from a child's voice. It was her voice, Lilac's voice, and he did indeed tell him his name when they first met. Looking to his ten o'clock and tilting his head down, he saw her standing there, holding something in her two hands. She looked scared yet eager at the same time.

"Hello, Lilac." The Chief greeted her. "Is there something you need?"

"Chocolate!" She held the rectangular item in her hands and held it out for him. "Take it!"

For the first time in a very long time, John stared at the little girl with complete surprise on his features, albeit hidden behind his helmet. This gesture of appreciation and thanks was unexpected in every sense of the word. That made him uneasy, being unable to comprehend something that should have been simple. For a few seconds, he stood completely still, thinking about how best to respond.

_What would Cortana say?_ He tried to imagine it. _What would she do?_

Then another memory came back to him. He was back on Earth, next to a Scorpion. He was in New Mombasa and his objective was to get aboard a Covenant carrier and secure the Prophet of Regret. The only thing standing between him and that ship was the Scarab in the distance. He had to get to it and destroy it before it caused further damage to the city and killed more people.

_Thanks for the tank._ Cortana's voice echoed throughout his mind. _He never gets me anything._

_Oh, I know what the ladies like._ Then he heard Sergeant Major Avery Johnson.

Something in his mind clicked once that brief exchange of words came to the forefront. Whenever given or offered something, it was common courtesy to accept regardless of whether or not what had been presented was useful or not. That seemed to be something that Cortana would say. Additionally, it sounded like most people liked receiving presents.

The Master Chief kneeled down so that the faunus girl wouldn't have to crane her neck so much just to look at his visor, but even in this position, he still towered over her. Her hands were still held out with the chocolate bar. With all the grace that he had in him, he accepted the gift and said the only words he could.

"Thank you."

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

At exactly 0430 hours, he awoke. His military clock was at least telling him as much. From his hunched sleeping position, he quickly roused the rest of his body. The rest had done him some good. Although he wasn't fully healed, he would take the necessary steps to ensure that his body would heal properly while on the road. He didn't trust aura enough to use it despite the many claims about its uses.

He double-checked and triple-checked to make sure he had everything that he needed. Food, water, medical supplies, and some other odds and ends, nothing too fancy. In terms of weapons, he was still severely lacking. Sooner or later, he would need a dedicated primary weapon or something comparable in use. He couldn't keep going on just a knife and a pistol with a waning ammo count.

As he did the final check, his ears began to pick up other people rising and doing their morning routine. Generally speaking, most people weren't known to wake up at such an early hour in the day with military personnel being an exception. Then again, these people did have a lot of repair work to do now that the Grimm threat was gone so getting up early might just by a result of what had happened.

Approaching footsteps had him glancing at his four o'clock and seeing the village elder Copper Clarke. He had no idea what the man wanted.

"Before you go, there is one thing I would like to give you." He held out a rectangular device. "I've had this scroll for a long time and I didn't know what to do with it. I guess you should have it… unless you have one."

"No, I don't." The supersoldier intoned.

"Then take it." The elder man said. "Oh, and it's got lien, so you're got at least some funds to spend."

"Understood." Chief nodded his head.

Frankly, he didn't really understand how money worked. As a Spartan, his only job was to fight with whatever resources were available. If he needed something, most of the time he could expect to be given what he needed. Money was something that the hierups and specialists did. He was only aware of money in terms of its theoretical uses, but as with most things in life, theory only applied to controlled and imaginary environments, not to the wild and varied nature that was real life. Regardless, having lien might just matter down the road. He didn't know how or when, but as an independent in this world, he needed to find a way to sustain himself and he wasn't about to become a barbarian and always resort to living off the land.

"Thanks." He placed the scroll in the bag by his side. It had been something given to him to carry all the things he wanted and needed.

"I wish you the best of luck wherever you go."

With a slight wave of goodbye, the war veteran made his way to the entrance and set out into the world of Remnant.

He didn't look back.

* * *

**The Master Chief has set off and is now on his way to do what he does best: taking names and kicking ass, but let's not forget that this is also an exploration of his inner self. You could call this story a dissection of John-117 as a man who fights with his machine side.**

**Without Cortana, he will have to take on new challenges unlike anything he's ever faced before, but I know that he'll find a way to make things work. I believe that people tend to underestimate the Master Chief in general, at least casual fans do. The Spartan II's are essentially special forces taken to the Nth degree. If you know anything about special forces, then you know it takes a special kind of man to make it into their ranks. Being physically capable is only half the battle. You need to be very smart as well morally strong. Probably most important of all is an unbreakable will to accomplish great things.**

**Take all that into account and remember that the Master Chief has superior genetics, augmentations, and his armor to boot. Also, his traits as a man and how he conducts himself makes him godlike.**

**So far, the feedback from the first chapter is positive, so I'm eager to see where I can take this story. Please keep that feedback coming and don't hesitate to speak up about something that has your attention. A lot of interesting conversations can result. As I edited this chapter rapidly, I will be making adjustments as I see them.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

_**"Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power."**_

**Seth Berkley**


	3. OPERATION RINSE AND REPEAT

**CHAPTER 3: OPERATION RINSE AND REPEAT**

** 2331 Hours, July 31, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanus**

A week passed by in a flash as the Master Chief began his long journey of travelling by foot between the various scattered villages on this continent. Compared to his time in Vermillion, the past seven days thus far had been relatively quiet. The Grimm were few in numbers and easily dispatched. Most of the villages reported few sightings of large hordes. Several locations that had been attacked had suppressed the abominations quickly. All in all, there appeared to be nothing major going on in the region he was currently travelling in, which was a good thing.

The Spartan kept his contact with the locals to a minimum as he did his duty. He wasn't here to make friends nor was he here to provide permanent protection. He would come and go as silently as he was able, only obtaining supplies when he needed them. The lien he had been given had proven to be useful in that regard, but as conservative as he was, he would need more soon, securing stable income was the next thing on the agenda.

As far as he understood it, he needed some sort of skill or talent in regards funding himself. Lien was the main source of income on this world and there were many ways to obtain it. Being a warrior paid decently as the Grimm were in large numbers all around the world. That was a stroke of good fortune for him. He didn't need to worry about not being useful.

There was one major issue though. These small settlements couldn't offer what John really needed the most: a decent weapon and armor repairs. These people seemed so reliant upon weapons meant for CQC that it felt almost like a needless risk to engage at such close range. There were hardly enough firearms and the few he had seen just didn't look right to him.

In terms of technology, these people were primitive. Dust, while a very interesting substance that had a wide variety of uses, could not be used for space travel, at least that's what the Chief had heard in a passing conversation. Further research via his newly-acquired scroll had him confirming that dust was only useful on this planet. Due to this fact and when considering that dust was the primary power source on Remnant, there was little chance of any sort of space technology or space travel. In other words, the situation was not looking good. Contact with the UNSC might very well be impossible without any sort of long-range communicator and MJOLNIR could only compensate for so much.

The question was this: if he was stuck on this planet, what was he going to do? Long-term plans were never really his forte to begin with. As a Spartan, he was to follow orders and carry them through to the letter. While his ultimate goal of being the sword and shield of Mankind was always most important, it was up to his superiors to decide how best to carry out that duty. Now that he had no contact with the UNSC and he was the only service member on this planet, he was effectively in charge of himself now.

_What exactly should I do?_ Spartan 117 didn't know in all honesty.

Protecting these Humans and Faunus seemed natural to him, but those were short-term goals that happened in the moment. He needed to come up with a long-term goal of how best to make himself useful. If he was to be isolated for an extended period of time, then he would need to get a bearing on the full scale and scope of his own situation. Barring anything unexpected or miraculous, he wouldn't be going anywhere for much longer by what he was doing now. He needed to find a lifeline to help him keep going.

The war veteran stared into the fire that he had created. It was his only source of light against the blackness of the night sky surrounding him. The night was peaceful and it reminded him of some of the camping excursions that he and his fellow Spartans did during their early years of training. Sometimes, it was an intentional test while other times it was simply the trainees going against Mendez and making life difficult for him. Either way, those were good memories and he wouldn't forget them for as long as he lived. Those were much simpler days compared to what he had faced up till now.

Even though he wasn't in a danger zone as far as he had surveyed this area, he kept his sidearm and knife on-hand as well as kept his helmet on. Part of being a Spartan meant being ready to respond to situations within microseconds of them occurring. All of this was uncharted and unfamiliar territory to him so his guard was up to its peak and then some. While Grimm did concern him, he was more concerned about potential hostile contact with Faunus and Humans. He assumed that just like in UNSC space, there were terrorists or rebellions elements that went against the established governments of this world.

One of the names that came up was the White Fang. According to what he had heard from other people, the organization was once a peaceful protesting group, but their methods became radical and violent when the divide between Humans and Faunus continued on without improvement. These days, anything involving the White Fang was not good at all. Intimidation, violence, robbery, propaganda, and sometimes even deaths. In essence, they were terrorists now and their influence was only growing. It was almost like looking at the budding stages of the Insurrectionists.

The Master Chief had more than his share of encounters with the Innies as they were called in the UNSC. The rebels were the reason that the Spartan-II's were created to begin with. Even though the Human-Covenant War ultimately shifted his focus over time, he still dealt with the Insurrection on more than a few occasions. They were without a doubt problematic, causing nothing but trouble no matter where they went. With that at the forefront of his mind, dealing with the White Fang had become clear: if he encountered them, he would neutralize them and ask questions later. Unless given a compelling reason to not take action against them, he would stick by what he knew and believed.

John sat up straight and checked his surroundings. It had been the same as it had always been for the past hour. Nothing was around and it wasn't likely that there would be many travellers at this time of night. The only thing he was managing to accomplish was go down memory lane and dredging up the past. For the sake of his performance, he needed to banish any thoughts that might distract him and settle down for the night.

The Spartan carefully snuffed out the flames and soon his vision began to compensate for the lack of light. His night vision allowed him to see things perfectly. The fire was there merely to cook food and it served as a sense of nostalgia. He should have put it out as soon as he had no use for it. The flame only served as a beacon to everyone and everything nearby. The last thing he needed was to be ambushed in the dead of the night while he was resting.

Reclining against a nearby tree, the man tilted his head back slightly, attempting to find the most comfortable position that he could. It wasn't the best place to sleep, but it wasn't like he was in a position to complain about his situation. If he wanted a bed, he was going to have to buy one, but that meant he would need a place of residence. That didn't seem an appealing idea to him in the least. If he was going to do his job right, he needed to be mobile as much as humanly possible. And he wasn't quite ready to be social with people.

_But how long can I keep this up?_ The Chief asked himself that very important question.

Once again, his thoughts turned to Mendez, the man who had shaped him into who he was today. The very first lesson taught to all Spartans was that if the individual failed, then so too did the entire team. By that same token, wasn't that lesson also saying that there were things that a single man couldn't do alone, even if he was a super soldier? The wording might not be present, but the implication was there.

John shook his head off to dissuade any further doubt from his mind. He was a Spartan-II and he would do his duty no matter what. He had seen off the Halo threat twice and managed to stave off a Forerunner threat. Those were accomplishments that couldn't be achieved easily and he had done it. All he needed to do was keep going forward and always bear in mind what he was doing here. As long as he stuck to his guns, he would win. He always won.

Those were his last thoughts as he drifted off.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1111 Hours, August 2, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

It had been a long time since he had been a proper scout. Usually, there was another soldier who had done recon and had reported it. It took time and patience to acquire intel that would be used in any offense or defense conducted. It could mean the difference between a small number of casualties and a huge number of casualties. The difference this time was the difficulty in how his next task would be, not the numbers involved.

The super soldier, from his position on a small hill overlooking a gaping cave, he took stock of the environment surrounding the opening in the earth. There had been clear signs of movement as the unusual indentations on the ground indicated. According to the nearby village, this place was home to some very dangerous Grimm types, namely, a Death Stalker, a type of scorpion that could range in sizes. Judging by the cave, it could be a very big one and it might not be the only one.

As reluctant as he was to begin working in true earnest, the lack of proper funding would hurt him in the end. Working with soldiers, marines, and sailors was easy. They were all military and all fighting for the same thing, but civilians led such varying lifestyles that it was hard to keep track of them all. Nevertheless, defending their lives came first and he wouldn't question what they did and to do that he needed their support.

When he first entered the nearby town, many people gave him stares and looks that he was used to, but those stares weren't to last. It was an atypical thing for John, being able to move without people cheering him or staring in awe. Perhaps these people were use to more abnormal sightings. Whatever the case might be, he would not question it. In fact, he preferred it this way. Less attention, more anonymity.

While the town appeared intact on the outside, there had been repeated sightings of more dangerous Grimm types that constantly harassed this village, almost like the method of a guerilla fighter. That pointed to one thing: this Grimm had at least a modicum of intelligence. That thought was frightening in its own way. These beasts were powerful enough as mindless as the mostly seemed. If they were given enough brain to be able to fight back competently, things wouldn't be so easy going down the road, but still he would press on.

The Chief inspected his current equipment one final time. His combat knife was as sharp as it could be and still in good condition for use. His M6D pistol was fully functional, but with only a handful of clips on his person, he intended to use the sidearm sparingly. MJOLNIR was damaged but functional; the energy shield were still down. Power was still being supplied to the suit so his Promethean Shield was operational. That was everything.

From his position, he assessed that enough information had been gathered about the environment and he moved in. As silent as a ghost, he took careful steps forward. Even in half a ton of armor, he made almost no noise. Decades of training and experience had honed his ability to control how he moved his body. His augmentations and MJOLNIR enhanced his ability to fine-tune his movements. In this way, he was a true phantom, virtually undetectable. His motion sensors detected no movement coming from anywhere as he navigated his way forward. This was his cue to proceed inside the cave and eliminate the threat.

Once the darkness of the cave swallowed him, he activated his helmet lights and keep all of his senses on high alert. In such a tight space, combat would be far more dangerous. Often times firefights could end very badly for either side, even the one with superior firepower and training.

John couldn't detect anything that was out of the ordinary, at least not so far. There was the dripping of water from the ceiling to the stone floor. The occasional cave-dwelling lifeform moved around in response to his presence. Then he moved his eyes downward and noticed indicators of something moving around: indentations in the ground from something very big moving back and forth and it definitely was not a Beowolf or an Ursa as he had come to properly identify the Grimm species.

The Spartan suddenly halted in his tracks. Even though he was wearing MJOLNIR and an underbody suit, something about his surroundings had changed. By chance, he glanced down at his right hand and though faint, his sharp eyes saw very thin trail of steam. Not only that, but his body felt just a slight temperature rise, not a major increase, but enough for it to be somewhat suspicious.

With this, he deactivated his helmet lights and remained still as a statue. There was something else here. His breathing slowed in order to minimize noise. If even a hair was out of place, he would know about it within milliseconds and he would engage accordingly.

The Master Chief looked to his right and saw something that he estimated to be some thirty meters away from him. His eyes focused on the object that he had spotted. In the darkness, it would be impossible to miss. A glowing yellow pointed object with a slight curve to it. The way he described it to himself made him look again. Barring the glow and the unusual color, that sounded like the definition of a scorpion's stinger.

Then he had found the target and if the size of the stinger was any indication, then this thing was bound to massive, perhaps bigger than many UNSC ground vehicles. With that in mind, the best course of action was to contain this thing in the cave. Due to its massive size, the Death Stalker would have a hard time maneuvering inside this confined space.

That being said, the risks were also considerable. If the super soldier was not mindful of his surroundings, he could get cornered and killed pretty quickly.

Ideally, the best thing to do was take out the target here so that the impact of the danger could be lessened. Neither Human nor Faunus had a reason to come here unless they were a huntsman. Collapsing the cave would be the best-case scenario, but since the spartan lacked any explosive equipment, that option wasn't much use. Furthermore, he was at risk of being buried alive in the event of a cave in.

John focused on his breathing and reoriented his mind. Think back on his training, he recalled that scorpions were armored all around. He doubted that his knife was quite up to par with dealing with thick skin. He would need to improvise a different kind of weapon sharp enough to pierce the armor. Either that or he would need to strike it with enough brute force so as to ignore any defenses and kill it in one go; it was not a likely scenario.

Picking up a rock he noticed at his feet, the Chief took air and hurled the makeshift projectile at the faint but noticeable hulk that he judged to be the body of the Grimm. After a second of silence, the rock hit its target, causing a loud sound to echo in the cave. The next moment, a glowing red hue began to appear that was not present before. The outline of the red indicated a body that was massive. A screech reverberated causing a slight rocking of the cave. This barely affected the war veteran. He stood in place, cool as ever, watching and waiting.

The hulking form barreled towards him with unexpected speed. As the Death Stalker came closer, the spartan positioned himself to be able to charge or retreat. He was leaving himself a choice. He had never seen a Grimm of this type before so he needed to gather as much intel as possible. Rare or not, he needed to be prepared in the future.

A pair of deadly-looking pincers tried to snatch him up, but found only the air he once occupied. He pushed forward, readying his knife and preparing himself for what he thought to be an ideal striking location. In every opponent, there was a weakness somewhere. For this overgrown scorpion, trying to match it head-on was probably not the right way. Instead, it felt more impertinent to go a lesser-seen spot.

Like it's underside.

His forward momentum, he slid to his back and thrust his knife upward. He made contact with the belly of the beast. What came next was a torrent of fluids coming from the gash inflicted from one to the other. Once he had cleared to the tail end, a loud bang came next as the Grimm collapsed.

The Master Chief took a couple steps backward to see the damage he had inflicted. From where he was standing, it appeared the thing was down, but not out. Its tail moved sluggishly and the glowing stinger bobbled around a bit.

It was time to finish it.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**1559 Hours**

"Thank you for taking care of that Death Stalker." A middle-aged man with a few slivers of grey hair bowed to him. "We can finally lay our fallen to rest."

"I was merely doing my duty." The Master Chief nodded his head respectfully. "Nothing more. And my thanks for the payment."

The village elder shook his head. "I only wish we could pay you more."

"The original agreed-upon price is sufficient." The spartan acknowledged. "But your concern is noted."

The two men shook hands and after collecting his pay for a job well done, John hit the road once more. The next village would be at least a days' journey so he needed to pick up the pace. Based on the current pattern of contact with the locals and engagements with the Grimm, there was a very high likelihood of at least a skirmish or two. The journey would afford some time to configure knowledge and formulate new tactics and strategies.

Handling long journeys was nothing he wasn't used to at this point. Spartan training demanded operating in all sorts of harsh conditions. This was an easy thing to deal with. The weather was mild and resources were plentiful. Plus, with his mind occupied by many other matters, boredom wasn't going to be a problem. At least, that's how it was supposed to work in theory.

For all the things that he could rationalize, ponder, and conclude, his thoughts would always return to the one place that he had no desire to think about deeply: his friends and family, or rather the lack of either to be more frank.

The spartan bristled at his own internal thoughts. He had been alone before many times before Cortana came into the picture. He had seen countless marines and fellow spartans die in the line of duty. It was to be expected and this sense of loss should be considered no different than anything that he had experienced before.

So why did he feel so hurt and so empty this time? Why now and and so harshly? What was different about this time?

He shook away these thoughts. If he continued along this line of thought, he would never be able to get out of it. He needed to keep himself focused on what mattered most right here, right now. Wasting time thinking about things that he couldn't change wasn't going to amount to anything productive.

For the umpteenth time, he reached into one of his pouches and retrieved his map. He was getting closer to the borders of the Kingdom of Vale. He had yet to see the place firsthand, but from surveying the maps and its geography, it was a well-situated nation. With natural barriers to protect it from the Grimm, Vale could defend its borders and not overextend itself in the process.

The Master Chief had considered at least scouting the boarders to get an idea of what exactly was going on in the kingdom. The reason he had not taken action was simply because he had no overly important objective that demanded his immediate attention. He was making do just fine as he was operating.

One thing that didn't make sense to him as he travelled these roads was the lack of huntsmen and huntresses. The past week had afforded him not a single chance to see what these men and women were all about. They were said to be the best warriors on this world with the intended purpose of hunting and killing Grimm. If that was the case, why weren't they here defending these villages?

Actually, now that the spartan reconsidered the idea, it made more sense the more he thought about it. Huntsman acted like a sort of special forces division, acting separately from conventional armed forces. Following that line of logic, their numbers had to be rather limited to begin with. Thus, where they operated had to be more focused on high-value targets and critical operations or whatever equivalent there was in this world. Did huntsmen have any sort of command branch or were they all simply independent?

If they were centralized and controlled by a governing body or some individuals, then it would explain the current state of things. Anyone who employed talented and skilled killers would never waste these individuals on objectives that wouldn't yield a high reward. Helping a village was all well and good, but strategically speaking, there was little value in such a small target. They could offer nothing in terms of resources, manpower, or intel. Barring unusual and abnormal situations, there was little to be gained.

On the other hand, if huntsmen acted independently and weren't strictly controlled by anyone or anything, then that meant so many potential leaks of information, secrets, and knowledge that might otherwise be damaging to the general public. There was also a greater potential for loose cannons and rogue elements. Such a sloppy and undisciplined approach seemed far to destructive to be useful.

But the reality might not be either of those two or it could be both at the same time. Until he could get a very clear and concise understanding of the community that made up the deadliest warriors on Remnant, then this conjecture was all that he had to work with and that was dangerous in and of itself. It could lead to assumptions and assumptions lead a soldier to his death fast.

"If I divert off my current course, It will take at least two days to arrive at the next village." John muttered quietly to himself. "According to the villages I have been to, Grimm have been low in numbers this year."

As he had reinforced earlier, he didn't want to assume that he knew best how to handle the Grimm. After all, he was an alien on this world, ironic as that was. These people knew this place far better than he did. If they said they could handle it, then he needed to trust in their judgement. Thirty-plus years of combat experience with the Insurrection, the Covenant, the Flood, and the Forerunners didn't necessarily make him an expect in all things related to fighting.

Still, his protective nature led him to weigh the risk and benefits. He was fighting Grimm all for the sake of readjusting his own techniques accordingly. While a great deal of things were familiar to him, there were other things that baffled him. Grimm might be animals instinctually, but they were far more aggressive, far more tenacious, and far more intelligent. Who was to say things couldn't change? There just might be an attack that a single lone village couldn't protect itself against.

What should he do?

The Chief's golden visor turned to the sun. The late afternoon painted an image that was not unknown to him. On Earth, he had witnessed this sort of setting during his brief time on the Human homeworld. He had seen this image many times before on Reach and no doubt on his own homeworld of Eridanus II when he was a child. It filled him with a sense of serenity that he rarely felt in his life.

The feeling of no fights being fought, no battles being waged, and no wars ravaging the galaxy? It was a feeling that gave rise to a great deal of emotion. Although he would never vocalize it, these resulting emotions were anything but pleasant. In all of Earth's history, they had always been warriors and there had always been war. How could thousands of years of it all just vanish as if it never existed? Was such a thing even possible?

John moved his right hand to the edges of his helmet. It didn't occur to him that he was trying to take off his helmet until he felt the hissing of air in his ears, indicating that his suit was no longer sealed from that atmosphere. When he did come to his senses, he quickly resealed MJOLNIR. A minor lapse in judgement, nothing more.

Spartan 117 folded his map, pocketed it with care, then set foot on his revised course. Once again, his entire body and mind were ready for battle at the slightest provocation. Despite Grimm numbers reportedly being much lower when approaching closer to the Kingdom of Vale's borders, instances of fighting were known to happen. Sometimes, there were severe casualties; it was another reminder of just how fatal the black and white monsters could be even when nearby what should be considered a safe zone.

_Let's go over the mission objectives one more time._ He did this every time he was on a mission. _My primary objective is to assess the border defenses of Vale, monitor Grimm activity levels, and evaluate overall strategic importance in securing a foothold in the kingdom. If it becomes more beneficial to my mission to have a way inside, then I will secure passage. If there is not a viable reason to conduct further business, then I will switch my focus to the other kingdoms. Perhaps they might have something worthwhile._

With his goals clearly defined and his mind now locked and ready to roll, the only way was forward. This was no doubt going to be a lengthy mission, but he wasn't about to do this indefinitely.

A timetable of three days seemed apt.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1700 Hours**

Ruby Rose grumbled as her older sister, Yang Xiao Long checked her over for any serious injuries. It wasn't like there was much to be worried about. Aura had already done the work of healing her up wherever she got bruises. Now it was all just the blonde girl being overprotective and overly affectionate.

The girl dressed in red normally didn't put up much of a fuss when it came to this sort of thing. Letting her older sister do this was just one way of showing love, but if there was one thing that was a major point of contention between the two siblings, it was their future, the one that the two of them wished to go on. Both of them were aspiring huntresses, albeit for entirely different reasons. Still, they were on the same career path and they had both trained hard and worked themselves to the bone for what they had now.

But no matter how much Ruby advanced in her skills with a scythe, there would always come a time when Yang would step in out of worry or concern. It was understandable given their family circumstances, but it didn't make it any less frustrating at times. The younger could've sworn that she made the older back off and give her some space, but then again, wasn't this just par for the course for them both?

Whatever the case, today it was just downright annoying for some reason.

"Alright Yang, I get it. Can you stop?" Ruby pushed them apart. "I'm a big girl."

"I'm just making sure that you're okay." Yang rebutted lightly. "That Grimm really did a number on your aura."

"That's why we have aura, Yang: to take damage when we fall short."

"But unlike me, you can't channel damage into your fists. I can, so I can compensate."

"Stop treating my like a kid! I can handle things myself. I drink milk!"

"See why I'm worried? It's for things like this."

"Look, can just get back to training? I want to get this over with? And by the way, you're not that worried. I see that look on your face."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sis. Now get ready!"

Yeah, they might have some slight chinks in the armor, but they were family and they had each others' back all the time. That was the main reason why they had remained a happy family in spite of the numerous challenges each of them had undergone. By all logic, there should be nothing wrong.

But if Ruby was being fully honest, she wanted more out of this. She had always painted the image of being an unstoppable warrior heroine who saved the day and made smiles appear on everyone's face when she saved the day. She loved those kinds of stories in the books that she read as a little girl and everyday that she trained, her desire to see action only made her impatience grow all the more.

She just wanted to get out there and kick some serious butt. She had mad scythe skills and nobody could touch her as long as she had her semblance. Besides, Beowolves, as good as they were for practice, they weren't a challenge.

"I think it's time to put the pedal to the metal." Ruby said to herself. "I want a real challenging fight."

* * *

**Apologies for the delay in this chapter. A lot has been going on in my life right now and I couldn't put it off and this chapter was written with much speed so I'm still working on potential grammar issues. Please bear with me as I fix them as I see them.**

**I have an idea of what I'm going to do with the story. I can actually see the end of the line more or less. Now I'm just filling in the details and figuring out how best to use characters. Look forward to new character interactions coming soon.**

**Feedback is greatly appreciated and I hope you all enjoyed reading.**

_**"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."**_

**Albert Einstein**


	4. OPERATION GRIMM REAPER DOWN

**CHAPTER 4: OPERATION GRIMM REAPER DOWN**

**1631 Hours, August 4, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanus**

The Master Chief stopped once again to survey the security of Vale's borders. This would be his final day of observation before he would end his surveillance mission. After this, he would return to the wilds and continue to map out the untamed areas of this continent. There was a considerable amount of distance for him to cover; even with his augmented body and his ability to endure long-distance journeys without the need for rest, he still had his work cut out for him.

He steeled himself for the upcoming task ahead of him without a single complaint. He was the sword and shield of Humanity. He would do his duty gladly and without hesitation.

Returning to the matter at hand, continuous observation of Vale's outer security concerned him to say the least.

Based on what the spartan had seen of Vale and its security, it was far too relaxed. It felt like these soldiers guarding the kingdom were not taking their duties seriously enough. The reason for thinking like this was partially due to the appearance of the soldiers present. From the look of their protective gear and armament, they looked to be ill-equipped to fight Grimm. While they were better-equipped than the spartan in regards to weapons, the fact was that the former did not have the advantages of any special augmentations while the latter did. These men and women looked like average people at best. That was not meant to disrespect them as soldiers, but this seemed a less-than adequate means of fighting back against hordes of the monsters that roamed this world.

John let out a light breath. Perhaps he was jumping to a conclusion too swiftly. After all, he couldn't accurately judge them based on their apperance alone. Furthermore, with the things that he had in his arsenal, he was in no position to be such a harsh critic of any military personnel and their gear. This was, at least, the mentality he ought to have been taking. However, having lived through near-extinction events on a galaxy-wide scale, there was no helping the paranoia and heightened tension he seemed to be constantly wrestling with now. It was like there was a potential threat around every corner.

The war veteran banished these pointless thoughts from his mind. He needed to maintain focus while he conducted his mission. These thoughts could be considered once he was in an appropriate setting. Now was not the time or the place.

Another point of concern regarding the Kingdom of Vale was its seeming reliance upon the terrain of the land for protection. There was no denying that the mountain ranges to the kingdom's east were ideal protection not to mention the ocean to the west, but to rely solely upon the landscape for insurance was tantamount to stupidity. Natural barriers might be able to protect the kingdom from Grimm, but what about human and faunus attacks?

The Master Chief had become increasingly aware of the history of this world and the last war that had happened, the Great War, which had taken place some eighty years ago and had lasted for ten years, demonstrated just how effective people were at finding creating ways through and around obstacles in the land.

But the concerns did not end there. The Grimm, according to some of the locals, were actually creatures that evolved with each survived encounter. While they were not nearly as creative in their thinking as Mankind was, they were not to be underestimated in the least. Assuming all of that to be true, then it was only a matter of time before the eldest of the beasts began to understand how best to fight through the issue of natural impediments in the land. There seemed to be an infinite number of Grimm as well, which only contributed to the growing list of problems.

The Master Chief could only see a horrible outcome for this city and this kingdom one day. Nearly a century of peace had softened these people, made them forget about the realities that they were living beside each day. If this was the best that militaries could do on this world, then it was not at all impressive, but then again, what he was seeing here was not necessarily a reflection on the might of Vale's armed forces, at least he hoped so.

The spartan shifted his position and his HUD moved with his head as he zeroed in on a gate checkpoint. Based on what he was seeing here, there appeared to be a somewhat lengthy process for entering into the kingdom. Many individuals and groups coming in appeared to need a form of identification. Others were merely let in based on appearance alone and these people looked to be warriors of some kind. Judging by how they dressed and what they carried on them, these must be the renowned huntsmen and huntresses that were said to be able to deal with Grimm in large numbers.

More than anything, the supersoldier wanted to get a first-hand look at these men and women to see how they fought. From the things he had heard, the image he had was that of fighters with borderline supernatural powers, something closer to the Forerunners than anything resembling what Mankind was capable of. If any of these claims and rumors had a grain of truth, then maybe he just might be able to find a way to tap into what they were doing in order to increase his own combat effectiveness.

If he had either his MA5D or his BR85, he would feel a lot better about his chances in any given combat scenario. As things stood, his knife was not going to last him forever; in fact, at the rate he was making use of it, the blade would become useless sooner rather than later.

The other problem was the semi-operational state of MJOLNIR. Being able to maintain the armor on a basic level was not enough and he lacked the proper expertise and knowledge to make the critical repairs he needed to maximum operational abilities, but he couldn't very well go asking people about it. MJOLNIR was a highly-classified piece of hardware. Being separated from the UNSC was no excuse for giving away sensitive information and technology.

His borderline obsession over his readiness level was not a good thing and he was aware that his concerns would continue to fester if he didn't find a solution to his problem and soon. Him being like this was something that he was ashamed of in many ways. As a special operations soldier, it was expected that he would be able to maintain his own gear and make his own decisions based on the needs of the mission at hand. It was something ingrained into his mind from his earliest days of Spartan II training.

What he needed was to do whatever was within his ability. If he didn't have a weapon, he would get one somehow. If MJOLNIR wasn't fully functional, he would find a way to fix it without leaking top-secret info. If he needed help, he would look for it. It really was that simple.

The Chief maintained his position, making sure to remain as hidden as possible. This would be much easier if he had an active camouflage unit with him. He could stand almost right next to the checkpoint area and find the flaws and weaknesses of this entrance from up-close. This could provide him with information for him to conceive of an entry plan. That was not to say that his stealth training was lacking in any way. It was working like a charm; in spite of his relative close proximity, he still had not been spotted. Even infantrymen in the UNSC would have a better chance of spotting him than these people.

So there he remained, his mind mentally recording all the details that was relevant.

This reminded him of some of his earliest missions against Insurrectionists when he and Blue Team were together, a simpler time. Reconaissance missions against the Innies were semi-frequent, often mixed in with another mission objective. In retrospect, those missions had been easy.

The rest of the Spartan II's were more than willing to voice their own discomforts with certain types of missions and environments not to mention joke about them quite a lot. More often than not, John remembered having to be the voice of authority even amongst the very professional Spartan II's. As a team leader, he accepted long ago that he had a responsibility to be the odd man out in any banter. Privately, he wished he could join in with his team on more than one occasion, but rarely did he break this steadfast rule.

It was strange how much Cortana had loosened his otherwise very strict and uptight behavior. He could listen to her sarcastic and snarky comments and take some comfort in them. Hell, he could even say that he took some joy in responding back with all the humor that he could muster. Despite having known her for only a few years of his life, he felt like he had known her for far longer.

The spartan breathed in deeply, controlling his emotions as best he could. He missed his AI companion and every day that he went without her voice, he felt like something wasn't quite right, which was ironic. Once, he viewed her as nothing more than a piece of equipment, important without a doubt, but still just a piece of equipment. Now, to call her merely that would be to devalue her in so many ways. He would not hesitate to call her a true friend and he would have followed her instructions straight to hell itself. He trusted her with his life and if she were here now, he would immediately consult her for all the tactical data that she had on her.

Another few minutes ticked off his clock. A few seconds later, he decided there was nothing more to see.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1752 Hours**

Ruby Rose, now that she was out in the wilds without anyone's knowledge, began to wonder if this was a good idea. Yeah, she did want to slay some high-level Grimm to prove a point to her sister, but even she knew the dangers of going alone to a place like this, especially considering she was still training. As good as she was with Crescent Rose, she was not on the same level as Qrow.

The red reaper banished her doubts from her mind. She was already out here and she had done some rather questionable things to get here. Now she had to own up to what she had done and do what she came here to do. Backing out now with nothing to show would be tantamount to suicide when she got back home. Not only would Yang get mad, but so too would her dad. At least if she had something cool to show off, they would be both proud of her as well as displeased and not just displeased.

Ruby, for the umpteenth time, checked her gear as well as the other miscellaneous items she was carrying. She hadn't taken as much ammunition with her as she usually did because she knew that if she did, her older sister would know that she was up to something. She took only an amount slightly below what she considered average. A sniper with only fifteen rounds was a sniper that was underequipped, at least in her opinion.

Every shot would have to count.

The fifteen-year-old girl kept her senses peeled for the Grimm. Although she didn't expect to encounter any of the beasts this close to Vale's borders, there was always a possibility that one would stray from its group. Whatever the case, she was eager to get out there and kick some serious butt. Part of her excitement could be attributed to her natural desire to see combat, but she also had a considerable number of cookies before leaving. All of that sugar might be heightening her energy and anticipation just a little bit.

She held her beloved weapon with both hands as she began to advance further into the untamed wilds. While she could get to populated Grimm areas faster via her semblance, she chose to not use this speed so as not to drain aura. She needed to be at her best when she found a horde.

In her hiden breast pocket was perhaps the important thing that she needed for this endeavor: her scroll. She would be using it to record herself as she tore through some monsters. She had come up with a way to have her scroll in a way so that it could capture clear footage without her having to go in with only one hand on Crescent Rose. This way, she would have proof that would be real and undeniable. The last thing she needed was Yang telling her off, saying that she faked it all. Well, Grimm were hard to fake to begin with, but it was better to be safe rather than sorry in this case.

Ruby could hear the slight sounds of the dirt underneath her boots as she trekked forward. While it was not a primary goal of hers, she couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of nature that surrounded her. If there was one thing that the Grimm never did, it was intentionally destroy the land that they inhabited. Their instinctual side led them to act more like animals whenever they weren't in contact with humans or faunus. It was a small silver lining and to some, perhaps not one that was worth admiring. To the young teenager's eyes, beauty that was saved from destruction was nice to look at. It was far more preferable that there be land to gaze in wonder at than a landscape devoid of anything remotely resembling life.

Her eyes shifted left to right. A pair of birds flew together from tree to tree. Some tree dwellers made sure to stay clear of her. The green leaves on all the trees indicated the peak of summer time. The sun illuminated an otherwise clear sky lined with fluffy clouds lining the sky ever so often. The air felt so pristine as it rustled through her hair. The sounds of peace and tranquility were very apparent.

Occupied by her admiration of the world around her, Ruby would have likely walked the path in front of her for all of eternity and while her journey didn't take her nearly that length, she continued on and on. Even at the pace she was going, she would have to travel for quite a while before she would reach the prelude of the mountains covering Vale's back. What snapped her back to the real world was a well-deserved collision with a tree, which hurt her for a second before her aura healed the minor injury. After that moment, a revelation popped into her mind: she had lost the dirt road she was following.

She reached for her scroll to check her location when she then felt her footing become unstable. After taking a second to recover, she noted that where her left foot now rested was a huge imprint in the ground, but it was massive. Her foot only covered a small bit of it. Judging by the size and how much of the ground it flattened, this looked to be the work of something very large and something told her that it wasn't just a wild animal. Looking up, she took note of the tree she had just slammed into and found something unusual: markings that looked to be courtesy of a set of claws.

Ruby only was able to get a look for all of three seconds before her instincts told her to dodge. As she did, she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a black arm swiping at where she had stood before dropping to the ground. Thinking quickly, the silver-eyed girl rolled away, then jumped to her feet. She quickly retrieved her scythe, unfolding it in all of its glory. It was also at this time that she took stock of his surroundings.

That was definitely a Beowolf that just attacked her, but now that she was getting a better look at the thing, she saw that it was no average specimen. It was an alpha, looking to be at least three to four times larger than its more common brethren. Taking it down wasn't going to be quick. Positioning her legs to allow her optimal maneuverability, she gripped Crescent Rose so that the barrel was pointed at its head.

The large wolf-life beast didn't charge her immediately, but instead reared its head and let out a howl. It took a moment to realize what it was doing and she knew she had to end this as quickly as possible. Using her semblance in combination with a shot fired backwards, a blur of red sped towards the Grimm.

The Beowolf held up its arms to block her attack. When she struck the crossed appendages, Ruby was surprised that her momentum wasn't enough to break its defenses. Rather, the only thing she managed to accomplish was pushing it back a few feet before it lowered its arms and thrust forward with its jaws wide open. Panicking, the red reaper quickly retreated, returning to the ground and firing a round off aimed at its exposed head. However, without the luxury of careful aim, the bullet only grazed the right side of its face.

The Grimm then seized the offensive by swiping and biting. The frenzy of motion that followed was enough to put the girl on her back foot as she was pressed into defense, something that she wasn't adept in and unfortunately, she had done very little in the way of finding a way to compensate for this weakness.

Ruby began to use an imperfect move, spinning her weapon in a pinwheel fashion with enough speed to keep the Beowolf Alpha from further attack. She couldn't do this nearly as well as Qrow, but this was the first move that came to mind. Maybe desperation would push her to do something amazing with it. That hope was instantly squashed used its strength to uproot a sizeable tree and use it as a battering tool. While the aspiring huntress's scythe prevented a direct strike, the part of the tree caught in the spinning arc was shattered into many pieces. A few pieces of debris flew into her face, knocking her head back and causing her to close her eyes instictively.

Blind and off-balance, the teenager began to fire blindly in a frenzied attempt to regain some control of the battle, but it was in vain as she felt her grip lost on her prized weapon and heard it hit the ground with a loud clatter. Then she felt sharp objects hitting her right in the chest. She could feel her aura taking the brunt of the damage, but it did little to stop the physical pain from registering.

Ruby staggered backwards in time to open her eyes to the world and see too late another paw coming in. She raised both hands, but she was still sent flying backwards and into another tree, causing both herself and the tree to fall to the ground.

Disoriented as she was, she could distinctly make out what sounded like overlapping growls and roars and howls.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2111 Hours**

The Master Chief took a moment to carefully mark his map. It looked like he had marked the critical points surrounding Vale. For the most part, there was little in the way of variety in the environment. The mountain rangers were a ways off as was the ocean. There was little chance of extreme weather occurring here given his observations thus far. That worked in his favor. One more predictable factor could be worked with.

Additionally, he made sure to make a note of the major roads that led into the kingdom. Predictably, being outside the safety of the kingdom borders, these roads were not well-maintained. There were hardly any paved roadways; most were simple dirt roads and little more. If this was an indicator for anything, it would be that either efforts to expand were difficult or it was simply better to not expand outward at all.

John wouldn't pretend to be an expert at planetary colonization and the many details and intricacies, but based on his observations and what details he remembered from the various operations and campaigns he had participated in, there were a few key factors that seemed to contribute to the overall success of a colony world.

One critical factor was resources. If a planet was rich with resources necessary in the present and foreseeable future, then most likely a new planet could expect a multitude of prospective colonists looking to make the most out of said resources. Reach was known for its abundance of titanium deposits and as a result, it was one of the most important worlds that humanity controlled.

Another reason to expand outward was in response to the growing population. Mankind was a very rapid-growing species. More people meant more space was necessary and what was each colony but another place for more people to go. Some worlds were better-suited than others to house humans, but ingenuity had a tendency to win out over unfavorable conditions. If anything, challenges were accepted quite readily.

A third reason to expand outward was to reclaim lost territory. For five years, the UNSC had attempted to retake Harvest, the very first planet lost to the Covenant. Even though the strategic importance of the planet was eventually lost due to drastic changes in the war, it was still a very important colony world not only due to its status as an agricultural world, but also as a symbol of human expansion into the greater unknown.

Those were just a few reasons among many and frankly, with the way things were looking on this world, it wasn't difficult to realize the situation that Mankind was in. That being said, he had yet to see the other kingdoms.

Based on his research and what he heard from villagers and travellers, the most secure kingdom was Atlas. They were known as a kingdom of technology and innovation as well as having the strongest military on this planet. If all of this was true, then a closer look was warranted. The problem was that it rested on one of the northern-most continents and could only be accessed two ways: by boat or by airship. Security there would be the most difficult to penetrate, so a plan was needed first before any attempt could be made to get in.

Mistral and Vacuo were of no concern to him. Neither had anything noteworthy that the war veteran cared about. The former emphasized culture while the other was merely a place with all sorts of questionable characters. In short, there was no strategic value in either kingdoms, so they could be ignored. Sure, Vale was little better and frankly speaking, the only reason it held any importance was because it had some critical locations.

John did a final once-over of his map before carefully folding it up and placing it back in his belt pouch. Then, checking to make sure that the coast was clear, he removed his helmet and took a drink of water. The cold liquid rushing through his body felt so invigorating. Once he was done, he replaced his helmet. The familiar hissing sound in his ears indicated that MJOLNIR was airtight.

Now that he had a familiarity with the locals as well as his environment, it was time to take a journey deeper into Grimm-infested territory to find out more about their strengths and weaknesses, their numbers, how many types there were, anything that might be able to help him understand the enemy better. As far as he could see, they were violent creatures that attacked humans and faunus on-sight, yet ignored all wildlife. This contradicted itself in so many ways. The only logical conclusion was that this was not merely a coincidence, but rather intentionally done.

But that begged two important questions: who created the Grimm? What was their intended purpose?

Calling these beasts mere weapons seemed too easy an answer, but other than killing people, there seemed to be nothing else worth noting about them. This was almost like rediscovering the Flood all over again, only this threat killed and didn't assimilate, which was a definite plus.

The spartan noted the sun dipping into the sky. Although his eyesight would allow him to see in the dark, it was best for him to get a consistent amount of rest each night so as to allow his body to recover properly. Going on for days and days without food and water was never a good thing despite its necessity at times.

He turned his head. For the most part, this was flat terrain and Grimm encounters had been almost non-existent today. This might be the best chance to get some shut-eye before he began to initiate contact with civilization in earnest.

As the Master Chief surveyed the horizon, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were no signs of human or faunus life anywhere, but his eyes spotted something in the distance. Even with his enhanced eyesight, he nearly missed it. It was a momentary blip of movement that seemed unnatural against the calm and still landscape. At this distance, it was too far away to be an immediate threat, but whether it be paranoia or vigilance, the MJOLNIR-clad soldier focused on where he last saw the anomaly.

No, that had not just been a trick. There was definitely something going on there. Now there wasn't just one blur. There were many blurs. Blurs this big from this distance meant that whatever was moving was very large. Naturally the only thing moving that could be this big were Grimm. There were definitely no signs of normal wildlife growing to this size.

The spartan made a quick decision and took off in a run to get a closer look at what was going on. Careful so as not to accidentally expose himself, he did his best to blend in with the surrounding wilderness, although this was difficult given his limited cover. Nevertheless, the color of his armor was somewhat compatible with that of the colors of his surroundings. It was his height that was the main problem.

His hearing began to pick up the familiar sound of Beowolves and from the sounds of it, there looked to be a sizeable pack. By itself, this wasn't particularly surprising; from close examination, the monster wolves acted exactly as their normal counterparts did. They travelled in packs and separated only for very specific reasons.

In any case, John would deal with this problem. It didn't matter if this bunch was attacking people or not. They were a threat and had to be dealt with accordingly. If he chose to ignore them, that decision might come back to haunt him later should these beasts find innocent civilians.

The next thing he heard made him snap to attention because it was something he knew all-too well: a scream of pain. Someone was in danger.

Pushing his augmentations, the Master Chief saw everything around him slowing down. While it was not nearly as slow as Spartan Time, it was definitely not the speed at which the world should be perceived. About nine seconds ticked off of his clock and in that time, he had managed to cover some 200 meters, but he was still at least another 300 meters away from the person in danger.

So he pushed even further, increasing his speak. His muscles felt just a little more strained and MJOLNIR felt a bit lighter than he remembered.

Three hundred meters became 150 meters.

Then 75 meters.

Then he had initiated contact.

The Beowolves here were much larger than the more common specimen found. These had to be Alphas according to his information. For so many to be concentrated on a single target could only mean one thing: this one was fighting them and had bitten off more than they could chew.

The Chief took only a second to glance at the person in distress. It was a young girl, probably around the same age as him when first received his augmentations. She sported multiple injuries, some of them minor, some of them serious. Her clothing was also in no better condition with rips and tears dotted all over.

Questions could come later. Right now, he had to get her out of here.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**2124 Hours**

Ruby had long since run out of aura and was now just struggling to survive. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, she had lost sight of Crescent Rose. Without her weapon, she began relying upon her aura, but she forgot that Beowolves travelled in packs. When she thought she was safe, she ran into another and then another. Slowly, her aura began to drain and before she knew it, the sun was beginning to set and she was bone-dry.

She didn't remember hunting Grimm to be this tough. She had always considered herself to be good at killing monsters. She had to be if she wished to become a huntress. Had she simply been fooling herself into believing that she was skilled at this? Was she still merely a piece of trash just like when she had begun her journey?

It felt weird to be asking herself such cynical questions, but considering her position, she felt it hard not to think this way. If this was what it felt like to die, then she didn't want to die. With that, she threw all hew willpower into moving her body, but she had forgotten about the numerous injuries that she had sustained and the moment she tried to lift herself up from her prone position, a thousand spikes of pain jabbed at her. She fell to the ground in an undignified manner, groaning pitifully.

_This isn't how I wanted it to go._ Ruby felt some tears in her eyes. _I wanted to make mom and dad proud. I wanted to make Yang proud._

No matter how she tried to force herself up, her body simply refused to acknowledge her and here she laid, her vision becoming hazy and bits of black began to occupy the color that she was seeing.

_I don't want to go._ Right now, Ruby Rose wasn't a warrior and most certainly not an aspiring huntress. _I don't want to go. Please, somebody help me._

If she had the ability to scream for help, she would have done so and even if she could, it was unlikely anyone was going to hear her. People didn't come this way often, not on foot at any rate. Why go on foot when air travel was much faster not to mention the relative safety of the airspace surrounding Vale.

She could vaguely make out some growling, but like with her vision, her hearing was getting extremely distorted. The best she could manage now were muffled sounds.

There was also the feeling of warmth covering her body, but that just might be the blood loss that she was experiencing. This experience was entirely new to her and even if her life was about to end, this wasn't a moment she was ever going to forget. Perhaps if there was an afterlife, she could properly digest it.

Ruby felt like she should have been killed already. Grimm weren't known to delay a kill if it could be done efficiently. It could be that time around her was slowing now that she was so close to kicking the bucket.

Before her vision faded, she made out something big and green in front of her.

* * *

**If there's one rule I follow when it comes to crossovers, it's that I never take my out-of-this-world character and make him/her an addition to the main canon of the universe they're in. That's pretty pointless; if you're going to pluck a character from one world and put him/her into another one, make a new story. It's more interesting that way.**

**I've said this before on one of my other stories, but I've come to a realization; in regards to crossover stories that I write, I am essentially creating isekai stories. The only difference is that unlike many isekai protagonists who are male teenagers that disgrace what it means to be a boy and a man, all of the protagonists I feature are actual certified badasses and it doesn't get more badass than the Master Chief.**

**I feel it prudent that the Master Chief and Ruby be the central characters in this story being the protagonists of their respective properties. Even if I only had these two, there's more than enough material for me to write about, but there are more characters coming down the line and this is the first of many divergences from canon.**

**As always, feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter.**

_**"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it."**_

**Andrew Carnegie**


	5. OPERATION REGROUP AND RECOVER

**CHAPTER 5: OPERATION LEARNING CURVE**

**1911 Hours, August 5, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanus**

The Master Chief sat on a log in a hunched position. His head was raised to stare at his nine o'clock, which was where his latest acquaintance laid resting. He had maintained a constant watch over her for the past twenty one hours. He ate one once during that timespan, enough food to constitute an MRE and drank a bottle of water as well. Otherwise, he observed her condition and guarded the mouth of the cave they were taking shelter in.

This place afforded him a mixed bag in terms of tactical viability. One one hand, there was only one feasible way for an enemy to attack him: the single entrance. That advantage was also a weakness. It was his only means of exit and it wasn't the most spacious. Still, for the sake of reduced visibility, it was ideal and so far, there had been nothing in the way of contact with Grimm.

The spartan, still as stone, considered his newest acquisition carefully. Judging from her features, she didn't look to be that much older than him prior to him receiving his physical augmentations, probably no older than fifteen. He estimated her standing height to be one hundred and fifty-five centimeters and her weight to be roughly fifty-five kilograms. Based on all that information alone, her ability to survive against the Grimm was nearly zero, at least that's what logic told him.

However, from her physical state, it was clear that she had been in a drawn-out engagement with the Grimm prior to his sighting of her. The only other option that was remotely viable in relation to her survival was that she was training to become a huntress. The reason he could point to her being a combatant of any kind was that her belt contained quite a few bullets that looked to be used in a sniper rifle, but not one that he was familiar with. Her other possessions included a few granola bars, a small canteen of water, and a scroll that looked similar to his own. He had yet to access her device simply because he had no need to do so. If he needed information from her, he would ask her.

Additionally, he wasn't quite comfortable with Remnant's technology yet and he didn't care much to test the limits of his knowledge. He knew basic operation of his own scroll and that sufficed for the time being.

What the Chief was interested in was what she was doing out here to begin with. There was no reason for any huntress in training to be out here other than to potentially eliminate hordes of Grimm, but the last he checked, sightings of packs were relatively sparse and usually, the types and age indicated a threat that could easily be dealt with by village defenses. His best hypothesis was that she was conducting a training exercise, perhaps gaining some live experience.

But assuming that to be the case, it made no sense for her to travel alone. To fight alone was to leave oneself exposed to potential enemy contact at all times, especially in the wild areas untamed by the Kingdom of Vale and the scattered villages. It wouldn't be so much of a problem if she was a certified and experienced huntress, but given her age, it seemed highly unlikely that she was even in the same league as a veteran huntress. The most likely case was that she was intending to gain some experience and bit off more than she could chew, in which case travelling with a seasoned veteran would have make more sense.

Spartan 117 had all sorts of questions, but until she woke up, he wouldn't be getting any answers by pure speculation, which was useless at this time, so he quickly banished any train of thought that wouldn't yield any useful information.

Right now, his immediate concern was watching over her health. With the medical supplies that he possessed, he had been able to treat all of her wounds. While none of her injuries sustained had been crippling or life-threatening, there were so many wounds that she had most likely been running on nothing but willpower and adrenaline. Eventually, blood loss had caught up to her and her body had just shut down she; sheer exhaustion was also a likely contributing factor.

That was his current diagnosis of her condition and the only thing he was capable of was closing her wounds and stopping the bleeding. He could only hope that an infection wouldn't take hold, otherwise this could turn unpleasant. So far, there had been no indication of any such thing occurring, but he preserved his vigil.

John did note that the healing process looked to be accelerating much faster than what was considered to be normal for a human. At first, he couldn't explain this because based on his knowledge, these sorts of injuries could take a person out of commission for the better part of weeks, maybe even months, yet it looked like this girl could be fully recovered in another day or two.

It was then that he recalled a bit of information regarding huntsmen and huntresses: they wielded aura, and as such, they were capable of healing from even severe wounds in many cases. Apparently, it wasn't unheard of for Grimm killers to be back on the front lines within a week of a life-threatening injury.

And speaking of health, the Master Chief had constantly been watching his own health in the past couple of weeks. While he had made a full recovery and was now operating at his best, his rapid recovery was unexpected. Even accounting for his augmented body's ability to decrease the time to fully operational conditions, the time it took in this case was very fast. Granted, the injuries he had sustained during his fight against the Didact weren't extreme, they were far from light grazes.

Yet another question for his mind to ponder on and now he was having to constantly remind himself to never wander too far from the present. He had one job to do: protect this girl until she was able to move on her own.

The spartan's enhanced hearing was picking up every little noise within this cave and quite a few noises from the outside. The snapping and crackling of the fire was the most prevalent and it was mere background noise while his ears focused exclusively on what was coming from outside. The only other sound that was noticeable was chirping from the crickets, a clear indicator that it was now nighttime. It was as close to a peaceful atmosphere as it could get out here.

He shifted his helmeted head to where the girl lay. She was moving a little bit, but otherwise didn't stir. It looked like she wasn't suffering anything like a nightmare, but it was far from the most pleasant expression he had seen on a sleeping face. She might very well be recalling the near-death experience.

If that was so, then it wouldn't be all that surprising. John could remember many of his close brushes against death in vivid detail. They served as a reminder to him: even the most trained, skilled, and experienced soldier could fall in battle. All it took was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Death didn't discriminate in regards to whom it took with it. Young and old, smart and stupid, strong and weak, there was no method to how the dead were chosen. The only certainty was that it could happen to anyone at any time without warning. Those that survived so many near-death experiences were the 'lucky' ones.

But John could never see his survival as anything but a sort of curse, something that he would always have with him no matter where he went. After all, there were only a handful of Spartan-II's still officially active, himself included and their numbers could only grow smaller as time passed.

Would he be the last one?

The man in MJOLNIR armor clenched his right fist tight, so much so that he could feel the pressure he was exerting. For the briefest moment, he felt the urge to smash his fist into something. It might make him feel better, bring him a momentary feeling of relief however useless in the grand scheme, but he didn't. He was taught to never do anything without a good reason.

What would momentary anger accomplish for him?

The Master Chief drew some deep breaths in and out. All this time spent on Remnant was clearly taking its toll on him. The number of times he could feel his mind wander into territory that he had no reason to be in was increasing and that was dangerous. If he couldn't properly control himself, he might get himself killed faster.

As much as he despised his 'luck' keeping him alive, it would be a huge disgrace to his fellow Spartan-II's if he died on account of his own inability to keep himself rational and sane.

Also, his own pride wouldn't allow him to lose any fight, especially not with himself. He would win, just like he always did.

Spartan 117 rose from his seated position, holding his knife in one hand and his pistol in the other, he stood five meters from the mouth of the cave and stood in the center of the cave, waiting for the enemy that might or might not come.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1830 Hours, August 6, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

Ruby felt her eyes flutter open. When she did, she looked up at the dark ceiling above her. The first thought that she consciously processed was how rocky it looked, like the roof of a cave.

_What is this place?_ Ruby struggled to get her bearings. _Am I dead?_

As she attempted to determine this, she groaned lightly as a slight jolt of pain was felt against her back. If she was dead and in a place with no more suffering, then shouldn't pain be an obsolete concept?

The reaper then decided that she had to be alive, otherwise she wouldn't be in such a dark place, but maybe she had gone under instead and maybe that was why things were so irrepressibly drab and awful.

The girl tried to move her arm and slowly, the limb responded, moving so that it was in her eyesight. There was nothing unusual about the sight. It was her arm and there didn't appear to be anything that she ought to be worried about.

Then she tried to replay the events that had led her to this moment.

Her self-appointed mission to exterminate high-level Grimm.

Her unexpected encounter with the Alpha pack.

Losing Crescent Rose.

Barely keeping herself alive.

Collapsing to the ground.

It all came rushing back to her and she felt panic course through her veins. This caused her to sit up straight as she began to breathe heavily. She should definitely be dead. She couldn't have possibly survived.

Then how had she gotten here?

Ruby concentrated on the memories again. The last clear picture she could bring up was her vision blurring into darkness, her hearing dulling to silence, but there seemed to be one thing she was missing.

That's right.

"Something big and green." Ruby whispered to herself. "Was that armor?"

"You're awake." A deep, masculine voice sounded. "Good."

At first, she jumped a bit in surprise, spinning her head to face the person who she had just heard. She hadn't noticed before, but there was a fire nearby, and she could feel its warmth against her skin. The light it provided forced her to squint her eyes before slowly adjusting. Once her vision came back to her in full, she couldn't help but gasp at the sight before her.

Sitting on a nearby log was what looked to be some kind of futuristic-looking armor. It was unlike anything she had ever seen and she did a LOT of research on the latest in weapons, gadgets, and technology. It was olive-green from head to toe with a golden visor and some hints of black where there wasn't armor. The figure looked to be massive, definitely much bigger than herself, perhaps even more than her own father and Uncle Qrow.

The figure met her eyes with the visor staring back at her. It was unnerving not being able to look into a pair of eyes. She couldn't even be sure if she was even looking at something living.

"Are you a robot?" Ruby couldn't help but blurt that out. "Or an A.I. of sorts?"

"No." A single word, but clearly stated and without room for doubt. "I am human, just like you."

"Oh." Ruby nodded in acceptance. "So that's your armor?"

"Yes." Simple and to the point. "What's your name?"

"Um, my name?" Ruby felt herself pause in thought. "Um, why do you want to know?"

"Because I have no way of addressing you otherwise." The man spoke plainly. "Unless there's a problem?"

"Nonono!" Ruby shook her head and waved her hands. "I'm Ruby Rose! That's my name, so yeah!"

A moment after she spilled those words, she felt herself coughing, and it was then that she realized just how dry her throat had felt. She must've been out for quite some time. Her body felt incredibly sluggish now. How had she just done what she had done?

"You need water." The man went to her side and retrieved her water bottle. "Drink this, but only take small sips. Don't overdo it."

With a gingerly grip, the silver-eyed girl tipped the container to her mouth, letting a cold sensation fall against her lips. She wanted to have more, but she heeded the advice given to her and moderated her intake. She counted for about ten seconds, then drank again. She repeated this cycle several times over.

After the red reader felt sufficiently hydrated, she put down the bottle and looked to him.

"You saved me." Ruby smiled at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He nodded his head. "But if I may ask, what were you doing out here by yourself?"

"I was just trying to level up." Ruby looked down at her folded hands in shame. "My older sister made fun of me for not being as skilled as her in hunting Grimm, so I thought I'd try to prove her wrong. Guess that didn't work out."

"No, it didn't. You shouldn't have wandered this far into the wilds on your own." The armored man scolded her. "If I didn't spot you when I did, you would have died."

"I know." Ruby said in a resigned tone. "But I just wanted to do my part, make my family proud, you know?"

"There is no shame in proving yourself, but you must always be aware of your limits." He calmly stated. "Le this be a lesson."

"Yeah." Ruby swallowed, feeling a slight lump in her throat.

Normally, whenever she said those words, it usually meant that next time, she would go out and do something several times worse, but those times didn't have her coming face to face with death. The worst that had happened the previous times was a scratch or two, maybe a light sprain one time. This was something else entirely.

After all of that training and skill she had cultivated and this was the best that she could muster? How could she expect to become a hero like the ones in the fairy tales if she couldn't take down threats like this by herself? How could she be expected to save anyone if she couldn't save herself?

"I guess that I'm not as good as I thought." Ruby hugged her legs to her chest and bowed her head. "I'm still just garbage."

Maybe a small part of her wanted her savior to say some words of encouragement to her, make her pick herself up and get back on track because she certainly was lacking her old spirit. Gods knew that she needed something to latch onto. She believed in hope so much that she wanted to become home itself, just like any good hero would.

Instead of words of encouragement, she instead saw him handing her something, a small bag full of what looked to be a well-rationed meal.

"Eat this." He told her.

Her stomach growled at the sight and she forgot her anguish. Tearing into the bag, she ate the first thing that her hands grabbed. It was meat, that much she knew for sure, but she couldn't tell what kind, nor could she distinguish a flavor. Frankly, all of that didn't matter. It was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten at this time. She approached everything else the same way, only intent on satiating her hunger and nothing else.

"Slow down." He gently grasped her wrist. "Your system needs to get used to consuming food."

"But I'm hungry!" Ruby whined.

"Eat. Slowly." His tone was more authoritative.

Ruby felt a slight shiver. "O-okay."

Doing her best to restrain herself, she ate the rest of her meal in silence, watching him from the corner of her eyes as his visor continued to stare at her. She wasn't used to being observed like this. Certainly, there were times that Yang could get awfully overprotective, but not quite like this.

And to make matters even more unnerving, he remained still as a statue. He was in a kneeled position, one arm hanging by his side while the other was on his bent knee. His helmet was tilted down enough to look her in the eye. If only she could see a human face. He said that he was human, but it was hard to tell if he really was. No one that she knew could ever hold still like this. It just wasn't possible.

At this rate, the only form of communication that they would have was a staring contest and this had to be the most awkward one she had ever had yet. She needed to break the ice somehow.

But the question was how to start. She wasn't exactly good at conversation or making new friends to begin with and that was with people with normal personalities and traits. Now she was dealing with a possibly-human armored thing with no indicator of the human part.

Okay, well, he knew her name. He had asked as much, so maybe that would be an ideal place to start.

"What's your name?" Ruby squeaked out, then shut her eyes.

Silence for a few seconds, then an answer. "Call me Master Chief."

The reaper opened her eyes again, then looked back at him. "Master Chief?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Or Chief for short."

That wasn't his name, was it?

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**TIME:DATE RECORD [[ERROR]]ANOMALY\Date Unknown\Location Unknown**

_John knew what it was like when he was between cryo and consciousness. It wasn't a true dream because more often than not, he could remember the details before he returned to the physical world. Generally speaking, it was hard for any person to retain vivid and clear details of a dream when they slept. Bits and pieces might come to mind, but for the most part, that was all that could be recalled._

_ This felt like one of those moments, a time where his mind was actually dreaming. He had been getting more sleep recently due to having no access to a cryo chamber, thus dreams were popping up more and more._

_This felt far more tangible than any dream he had ever experienced before. Although the whiteness around him blinded him to his surroundings, he could look down and see his gauntlets and his armored body. He could feel MJOLNIR encasing his body completely. When he breathed, he could feel the quality of the air his suit provided. All of these were details that he felt when he was awake and fighting._

_ The Master Chief took one step forward and felt solid ground, yet he couldn't see the surface he was walking on. His next step was just as solid as the first, but it was still unclear what he was walking on. When he attempted to use MJOLNIR's internal systems to help him navigate, he came back with nothing concrete. His scanners, his sensors, everything seemed to be non-functional._

_ At first, he was frustrated with this development, but then chose not to dwell on it for long. He would find his own way out one way or another. He always found a way._

_ The spartan walked at a steady pace, partially in order to watch for potential threats, but also to let his senses stretch out to find something that might help him navigate this place. With nothing in the way of information, he just had to trust his instincts to find something and he would have to make it work for him._

_ The sound of his boots clinking seemed to indicate that he was on a metal surface. That fact alone told him more than a few things about where he could be. The places that featured metal as a walking surface were ships, space stations, and fortified military installations of the UNSC. Those were the three he was most familiar with. Another alternative was that he was somewhere near a Forerunner structure._

_ As the numerous scenarios ran through his head, his sight began to shape into something more concrete. It was the familiar sight of dull grey metal. At face value, it wasn't anything all that special to look at. What was presented was merely a wall of gun-metal grey and little more. To some, it meant little._

_ To the supersoldier, he would recognize this sight anywhere; it was the outline of the hull of a UNSC ship, and judging by the details and the general outline, it looked like this was a Halcyon-class light cruiser. He could discern that much._

_ But he couldn't see the name of the vessel. Where there was usually a designation there was nothing there. His sensors were not picking up a friendly identification either nor was there any indication of radio communications going through._

_ John proceeded forward nonetheless. This was the only sight that he saw in this blinding white. It would suffice for a start. He sprinted forward, pushing him into speeds impossible for any normal human._

_The distance between himself and the ship became smaller. As it did, he noticed that while he was indeed closer, the angle that he was seeing the ship seemed to be moving sharply upward. Unless he was mistaken, he would soon be entering through an empty lifepod dock. This made no sense._

_ He had to remind himself that dreams often had no logic to them._

_ The Master Chief only stopped briefly to scrape his hand over the metal of the ship. The gesture was fleeting and almost pointless, but it brought with it a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. His rank denoted him as part of the navy. Even though ship combat wasn't part of his duties as a Spartan-II, he knew quite well. What time wasn't spent planetside was spent on ships either training or in cryosleep._

_ He ventured deeply into the halls. Upon entry, he noticed a lack of any signs of life. There was power being supplied to the ship, that much he could see judging from the status lights and the illumination of the halls. What the ship was lacking was any sort of personnel activity. There was not a hint of a sailor or a marine. This was highly unusual. Even in the more obscure and lesser-used parts of a ship, there was always some indicator of activity._

_ Spartan 117 felt his boots carry him to the nearest armory according to his memory of the layout of halcyon-class cruisers. He passed through some doors, all of which opened at his physical presence. Not a single human presence was detected as he instinctively charted a path._

_He moved a couple of levels up, took one elevator, made two right turns and five left turns, walked about 200 meters of straight hallways, and then he reached the armor station. The markings and signs were abundantly clear about where he was._

_John let the door slide open and what he found was far from what he needed. What should have been a room full of arms and ammunition was but a bare room. There wasn't even a trace of round anywhere. It was as if this place had been picked clean and then someone came back to triple check that nothing had been left behind._

_ But was there anyone else but himself? If that were so and assuming they came and took all the weapons, what was there to fight?_

_ Deciding that doing his own search wouldn't hurt, he started from the entrance of the armory and worked his back to the door at the back. Again, his efforts turned out with a negative on weapons._

_ The Chief realized that he was holding his breath. He let out a breath. Then he noticed his hands clenched into fists. He let his hands to slack. Also, he felt stiffness in his shoulders and not the good kind. He loosened himself for a more optimal combat readiness._

_ This wasn't the only armory in the ship. There were dozens of other scattered throughout the ship. All he had to do was search them all until he found a weapon. Surely, all of them couldn't be barren like this one._

_ He turned to leave only to realize that the door he had entered from was glowing red, indicating that it was locked. To his other side, the opposite door also flashed the same color. He was effectively trapped._

_ No, he just needed to create his own way forward. Although it was far from a recommended course of action, he would simply bust his own way through. It wasn't anything new to him and it seemed like there would be no one to know or care what he did._

_ Taking a step back, he reared his fist and threw it forward with all the momentum that he could and heard metal dent metal._

_ That would be the only time he would strike the locked door._

_ A slight sound echoed throughout the room. It lasted only for a little more than half a second, but it was clear and crisp._

_ Turning his head to look around him, he saw nothing, but he knew that he was not mistaken. Even though silence reigned, he felt his guard rising. Something else was here with him and if it was hiding, then it clearly didn't carry friendly intent._

_ The spartan checked his motion sensors, finding no enemy contacts. Facing his body back to the center of the armory, he trained all of his human senses on finding the mysterious presence._

_ As his eyes did a sweep, he caught something in his sight. It was a mass that he didn't remember being present before. With urgency in his steps, he dashed over to investigate._

_ Situated between the two weapon racks islands was a girl of black hair wearing a dress of black and red that was torn and dirty. She looked familiar._

_ That's right. Her name was Ruby Rose. He had saved her from-_

_ A warning in the back of his mind told him to duck and he trusted in it, hunching down, and then feeling a slight current of wind above him. Doing a roll to his side, he faced the enemy._

_ An Ursa._

_ John knew he had to fight, but he had to protect Ruby. She didn't look to be awakening, remaining still._

_ What to do?_

_ His eyes noticed a glean at his feet. He looked down to a very welcome sight._

_ An MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System._

_ Without another thought, he grabbed the assault rifle and hoisted it up. His HUD displayed a full clip. It would have to do._

_ The Grimm roared in challenge._

_ The spartan took aim._

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**0800 Hours, August 8, 2558 (Military Calendar)**

Ruby opened her eyes to the sight of sunlight. Taking a minute to wake up her mind, she lifted herself from her makeshift bedding. It was hardly as comfortable as her bed, but at least this time she had found a serviceable pillow to rest her head against.

It was the Chief's pack.

For one odd reason or another, she couldn't pry his real name out of him. Then again, the red reaper hadn't made much of an effort to begin with. It was clear that once he stated what he wished to be called, he didn't want to leave room for further discussion. That was the feeling that she got at least.

Which was sort of weird to Ruby. Sure, she wasn't all that much better in the social department, but she would give her name. Even she knew that this was common sense. Who didn't know that?

Apparently, one person.

No, she wouldn't judge him. That wasn't what she did. Besides, who was she to judge him when he had saved her life?

Plus, he had all sorts of cool weapons and his armor looked far too advanced to be something that could be made by any civilians. It had to be a military set and that naturally led her mind to assume it was Atlas tech.

She had to as him about it and speak of the devil, there he was guarding the cave entrance.

"Good morning, Chief!" Ruby called out to him.

"Morning." The man said, turning himself to face her.

She had her questions in mind, but then she noticed something even more awesome. He held in his hands a black rifle that looked all kinds of mean and kick butt.

Did he always have that? She didn't remember him carrying that on him and she didn't remember it lying anywhere in the cave?

"So cool!" Ruby leaped forward to get a closer look. "What's this weapon? What's it called?"

"It's an MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System." The Master Chief answered her.

"That's it name?" Ruby tried to wrap her head around it. "The MA5-what now?"

"You can call it an assault rifle for short." He spoke. "I'm assuming that you know what that is."

"Sure, but nothing like this!" Ruby gazed at it. "What kind of ammunition does it use?! How did you make it?! Can I try it out?!"

"First answer, this weapon uses 7.62 x 51 milimeter rounds." The Chief shot off answers. "Second answer, I didn't make it. Third answer, no."

"But I want to!" Ruby pleaded. "Pretty please with strawberries on top?!"

"No." He shut her down once again.

"Why?!" Ruby felt her entire world crumbling.

"You have not been properly trained to use it. Thus, I cannot entrust you to use it in any given situation."

"So can you teach me?"

"Yes."

"Then teach me."

"Why are you so interested?"

"Because I love weapons! That's what I live for. Since I don't have Crescent Rose with me, I need some other way to get my fix."

"Crescent Rose?"

"That's the name of my weapon. You should name yours too."

"No."

"NO?! But weapons are your best friend, an extension of yourself!"

"Weapons are expendable pieces of equipment."

"How can you say that?"

Clearly, the Chief needed to learn the importance of becoming best friends with your weapon. It was the greatest thing in the whole entire world.

At least, Ruby liked to think so.

* * *

**Many of you have been speculating as to how the Master Chief will achieve a level of combat readiness that is appropriate for his badassery and I think I've found the solution. It's been there all along and I didn't even realize it. For those of you who are confused, I'll give you a hint: there is a particular scene in which the John receives something very special which contains a lot of untapped potential. In any case, that's something to think on.**

**Moving on, Ruby is still the same weapons nerd. Just like in canon, I want to make sure that her defining traits are still there. In this way, Ruby's still recognizeable, but she's going to develop along a far different path. In this way, she's going to be the same as her canon counterpart, but the steps will be different.**

**The Master Chief is also dealing with his own internal struggles. Bear in mind that he's never had much time to process his own emotiosn that's he's been bottling up so now that he's coming to grips with his own humanity, it's a struggle because he's never had anyone to teach him how to deal with them. Cortana may have understood him better than most and she probably did help him emotionally, but not even she had given him the means to accept his humanity.**

**I think that's enough for all of you to think about.**

**What did you all think? Feedback is appreciated regarding any aspect of the story.**

**As always, thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

_**"I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better."**_

**Plutarch**


	6. OPERATION EMOTIONAL TURMOIL

**WARNING: THERE IS MILDLY GRAPHIC CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER.**

**CHAPTER 6: OPERATION EMOTIONAL TURMOIL**

** 1930 Hours, August 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

The Master Chief walked at a much slower pace than he was used to. He had to do this in order for his companion to keep up with him. Although she had made a full recovery physically speaking, her relative lack of activity for the past week had left a little weak.

The past few days had been spent getting her back on her feet and having her make sure that she could maintain basic movement and walk around normally. The first day she had stumbled a bit and she got a bit winded too quickly. The second day she had gained more strength and was showing little sign that she had suffered a life-threatening injury. Today, she had insisted that she was okay and after a moment of hesitation, the spartan had agreed.

John couldn't provide her much in the way of clothing aside from a small towel granted to him from one of his expeditions at a small village. It was a small gift in exchange for solving a few Grimm problems. He didn't think he would have any use for it until now. For now, it would serve as a means of making sure that the teenage girl was at least decent.

Ruby Rose showed far more signs of mental recovery, slowly breaking away from her more timid and hesitant state that she had first woken up to. Now, she was like an overcharged plasma pistol, always ready for anything at a moment's notice and constantly pestering him about his armor and weapons.

And speaking of his weapons, after waking up from one of his dreams, he had found an MA5D in his hands. After making sure that he wasn't experiencing any delusions, he quickly did a check of the rifle, finding it to be a fully functioning weapon. It had a full clip loaded and amazingly enough, there were seven additional magazines stored in his belt pouches. He couldn't explain any of this logically.

As best as he could recall the dream, he was fighting to protect his newest charge's life when the weapon appeared to him in his time of most need, but that's when he took a step back and recalled all the amazing and fantastic events that he had witnessed in his life.

That led him to the only conclusion that seemed to make any sort of sense. At first, this information was little more than a recollection of combat with the Forerunner Prometheans. They appeared and disappeared at will, adding a dangerous element in a firefight that was difficult to deal with. Then he connected this with his conversation with the Librarian and the memories of the war that the ancient Humans fought with the Forerunners. The technology at work and the technology being employed was on a scale that the UNSC wasn't able to compare with, but somewhere deep down, he knew what he was seeing.

_Reclaimer, the genesong that I placed within you contains many gifts, including an immunity to the composer._ The Librarian had relayed these words to him. _But it must be unlocked._

Indeed the Forerunner female had unlocked the immunity to the composer, but what other gifts had she given to him?

Was it possible that he had gained a bit of power from the Forerunners themselves?

If that was the case, could he harness that power in combat?

Spartan 117 mentally resorted to his list of priorities. Assuming that he could gain control of his new supposed abilities, then this just might change more than his ability to fight. It could prove to be a massive boon for the UNSC. Humanity would gain a new means of defense and offense. Perhaps the Covenant could be forced on the defensive for the first time since alien contact.

Unfortunately, his ability to research this phenomenon was limited seeing as his focus had been solely dedicated on the recovery of Ruby. As important as armament was to him, it was more important to see to the well-being of the young girl that had come under his care. She was human and her life was in danger. That was more than enough reason to make sure that she was kept safe until they reached Vale.

But before she could be returned to civilization, the girl possessing black hair with red tips had insisted that they retrieve her personal weapon designated Crescent Rose. According to her description, it was a custom-made weapon, a hybrid of a sniper rifle and a scythe. Simply put, it was a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe. At first, John thought he had heard her incorrectly and requested that she repeat herself, to which the girl eagerly restated what she had said once with a clear amount of enthusiasm. Once he confirmed that he had not misheard her and that she wasn't otherwise mentally deficient, he pointed out the immediate flaws of such a design.

Firstly, a weapon's ultimate purpose was to wound and kill. A scythe was a weapon used in fiction, a sort of romanticized way of looking at combat. In no way was wielding one practical. As far as the Master Chief understood it, the original purpose of the scythe was in agriculture as a tool. Yes, the weapon was dangerous if its tip managed to hit someone, but in the time it would take for a hit to land, a nimble opponent could kill a scythe-wielder in several different ways. This conclusion was worked out with the knowledge of weapons that came from the same time period.

Additionally, a hybrid weapon meant more moving parts and in the middle of an intense firefight, a gun with fewer moving parts would save a soldier's life over a gun with more moving parts.

Ruby seemed offended that her weapon of choice was being criticized in the way it was. She had gone on about how it was important that a weapon be more than a functional piece of equipment. It needed to be unique from user to user because that was a part of a person's soul. It signified who they were at heart. She also made the case that her unique weapon was perfectly functional in her hands. According to her words, a scythe wasn't a weapon that was easy to use. It took years of discipline and skill.

Spartan 117 would have argued further, but then his own words came back to him; never make assumptions because assumptions could be deadly. He needed to adjust his thinking to this world and figure out what worked and what didn't from his own experiences. The rules were different here and he needed to know them and follow them. Any competent special forces operator had to think outside what was conventional knowledge or wisdom.

And now that John thought about it, he had never seen a huntsman or a huntress fight first-hand. All he had were some offhand accounts and some limited access to video feeds, none of which were particularly useful in gauging the true combat prowess of these elite warriors. While a huntress in training wasn't an ideal subject, she could help him jump start his knowledge base.

"So that's why you need to get your own weapon with its own name." Ruby's voice split into his thoughts. "Also, can I add some blades to your rifle?"

Had she been talking about weapons this whole time?

"I said no the first time." The Chief stated in a deadpan tone. "I said no the second time and I've said no every time you requested to modify my weapons. If you ask me again if I will allow you to modify my weapons, my answer will still be no."

He didn't want to have this conversation further with her. Frankly speaking, he couldn't deal with someone who could speak this much. Even the marines that he often worked with weren't this mouthy. They could be rowdy at times, but not this much.

Ruby didn't seem to understand that he had shut down the conversation. "So… can I modify your armor?"

The war veteran ceased his walking and turned to look at her. As he was right now in MJOLNIR, he was a full sixty centimeters taller than her. That massive height difference served as more than ample intimidation. All he had to do was stare her eye to eye, although all she would interpret was eye to faceplate and the Master Chief was well aware that people were often unnerved by a lack of eyes in his helmet.

"No." The super soldier maintained eye contact as he declared his answer. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

"N-no, sir." Ruby withered under his gaze.

Satisfied that he had sufficiently subdued her, he turned to walk at the pace he was going at, hearing the familiar sound of the girl's footsteps following him.

The silence that followed them was exactly what he needed in order to keep his senses trained on detecting any enemy targets that could attack them.

Even if the current company he kept was not to his liking, he still had a duty to protect her life.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

** 2000 Hours**

Ruby felt her legs aching. For gods knew how long, she had been walking alongside the Chief for a good while. She didn't know the time because unfortunately, her scroll had been busted during her encounter with the Grimm. All she had was him to relay her information and right now, she didn't dare to speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Her excitement over his gear was apparently not welcome and he had politely and forcefully told her to not broach the subject any further. His stare was scary and the worst part was she couldn't figure out anything else.

But in spite of his intimidating gaze, the giant man, assuming that he was human, had this rather unusual presence about him. The fifteen-year old couldn't quite place what exactly she sensed that made her wonder about him. She just knew that he was unlike anyone she had ever seen before and that was saying a lot considering she was in the know when it came to people with insane combat skills. Despite the fact that she had never seen him in combat, she got the feeling that he was more than capable of doing some damage.

And speaking of combat, Ruby really wanted to get Crescent Rose back. It was her pride and joy that she had spent so much time crafting, tuning, and perfecting the sniper-scythe combination. Without her beautiful baby, she was a far less effective Grimm hunter and she felt incomplete. That was why she had made a request from her savior to retrieve the weapon. Although he had agreed, now with the mood that was between them, she wasn't so sure if this was a good idea.

The silver-eyed girl kept her eyes focused in front of her, throwing her companion occasional glances. Even if she didn't dare to speak about his armor or weapons, her nature as a self-identified weapon-obsessor made her ask mental questions. The problem was that even with all her technical knowledge about all things related to fighting, she couldn't figure out what the Master Chief was wearing. The fact that he refused to divulge any information further tempted her to find answers.

Maybe she could find a way to be more than just a burden to him and then he might be willing to talk more on the subject. She didn't want to be a drain on him any more than she already was. With the way he moved, he seemed like someone that had a goal and a purpose and she had disrupted all of that because she couldn't protect herself.

Ruby felt herself recalling the near-death experience again. Even after a week of recovery, she found herself shaking at the memory. Death felt so cold and miserable and all sorts of terrible. It was unlike anything she had ever felt in her life. All of the complaints she had ever issued in her entire life now seemed so trivial in comparison to this. It made her wonder why she even complained in the first place.

She felt her hands shaking and she struggled to get ahold of herself. She thought that she could get over this by acting like normal and forgetting about the entire experience, but clearly that wasn't the case. The experience just wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried to distract herself with her hobby and love for weapons. She grabbed her left wrist with her right hand in an attempt to steady her movements, but found the action unhelpful. Both her hands were shaking.

"Ruby." The Master Chief spoke to her.

"Y-yes, sir!" Ruby squeaked. "H-how can I help?"

"I am not your superior officer." His helmeted head regarded her. "You don't need to call me sir."

"Um, right." Ruby cast her eyes toward the ground. "Sorry."

"...what are you doing?" The Chief asked her.

"Nothing." Ruby attempted to hide her discomfort. "I'm fine!"

"Are you?" His visor noticed her hands. "Your body says otherwise."

"It's just cold!" Ruby blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "So I'm shivering."

Once she realized what words came out of her mouth, she felt stupid. They were in the heart of summer. The lowest temperatures around this time of year weren't even closer to cool temperatures.

"Stop lying to me." The Master Chief saw right through her. "I know that you're afraid of going back."

It was disheartening to admit that she was afraid of potentially facing Grimm. It wasn't all that long ago that the thought of facing the black monstrosities brought nothing but glee on her face. She was going to be a huntress and she expected to face these things in droves. She was going to be a hero. She was going to go on adventures and save the world. She was going to become a hero that would be recorded in history and be made into a legend for generations down the line to admire.

Could she do that now?

"I thought it was going to be just like in the books." Ruby's voice came out with a whimper. "I thought I'd always win. I thought no matter what stands in the way, I'd always come out on top."

Small tears were forming in her eyes. It had been a while since she had cried. The last time she did, Yang babied her immensely in the days that followed. The girl didn't want to worry her sister or her father so much, so it seemed like a good idea to start fighting and get stronger. If she could do everything herself, no one would have to worry about her anymore. Maybe she could do the worrying instead.

"You thought you could do it alone." The Chief inquired.

"...yes." Ruby felt the naivety of her beliefs come crashing down

As selfish as she knew she was, she couldn't help but hope in vain that he might provide her with a ray of hope. She was desperate to hold onto her dreams and aspirations. She had come so far, made so many strides, fallen down so many times, all for the sake of an ideal. At the core of that ideal was conviction that she could do anything as long as she put her mind to it. If there was no way to salvage all of that, then what was she doing?

"Then you failing was inevitable." The Master Chief told her. "Anyone who thinks they can save the world alone will die alone."

That was the last thing she wanted to hear, so she did the only thing that felt right: fight back.

"There have been heroes in the past who won entire battles alone!" Ruby knew that much from history. "So why can't I?"

"Whether you know it or not, those 'heroes' that you admire never fought alone, not really." The Chief was quick to point out a flaw. "They had help. Whether you see that help or not is irrelevant. That is simply how it is."

"But-"

"If you had been with a senior huntsman or at least another student, would you have lost that battle with the Grimm?"

"N-no…"

Of course she wouldn't be in this situation if she had gotten help. If she had just told Yang that she wanted some additional training, then her sister would have easily agreed to help her out. This entire ordeal wouldn't even be happening, but it was far too late for regrets now. The past was set in stone.

Quiet settled between the two of them, but it was anything but a serene setting. This was a very bitter pill to swallow. It was all too much for the budding huntress to take in all at once. All she felt like doing was curling into a ball and waking up. Maybe this was just some terrible dream and she was simply having a very bad day.

Then Ruby felt a slight jab of pain at her side, the only remainder of the injuries she had sustained when fighting the Beowolf Alphas.

This was no dream. This was the cold truth of her life. She had tried to improve her skills and she had failed. She wasn't good enough to be a hero.

A slight noise had her head turning up. At this point any distraction was preferable to the overpowering feeling of despair.

The Chief was no longer looking at her. He seemed to be staring into the distance at something. The sound she had just heard appeared to be him yanking the charging handle on his assault rifle. With a sliver of curiosity still, Ruby tried to see what he saw.

In the distance, there were trees and the horizon as well as something orange glowing in the distance and it definitely wasn't the sun. The sun was to the west, setting and giving room for the night to follow.

"We need to hurry." The Master Chief informed her. "How fast can you run?"

"Um, p-pretty fast." Ruby reported.

"Good." He held his rifle at the ready. "We're going in."

Crescent Rose was going to have to wait.

And strangely enough, Ruby didn't mind.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2019 Hours**

The spartan took off in a full sprint, reaching his peak speed. To his right, he saw what looked to be a flash of rose petals alongside him. It took him all of a half second to realize that it was Ruby. Indeed she was pretty fast, but he wasn't expecting her to keep up with him. This must be the power of aura and semblances.

As soon as the dirt road became more clear, it was easier to see the general state of the village. The first thing that came to the forefront was that there was not a single Grimm in sight, which was strange, but since they were attracted to negative emotion, it would only be a matter of time before they did show up.

He stopped and she did the same.

John retrieved his sidearm and held it up. "How good of a shot are you?"

"I. uh…" Ruby looked unsure how to answer that. "Okay, I guess?"

He peered at her. That was not the answer he was looking for and she sensed that.

"I was the best at Signal Academy." She didn't look sure, but at least that was a clear answer.

"Good." He didn't know what that meant, but handed her the M6D pistol. "Take this. It's loaded. The safety's on this side."

The war veteran quickly took another view of the burning town. If it wasn't Grimm, then this situation was man-made and he doubted that this was an accident. That left only one other viable option.

Bandits.

The Master Chief advanced with Ruby at his side. What remained of the entrance to the village was just a ruined fence and gate along with some bodies strewn around. Some were already dead judging by the blood covering the ground. A cough alerted the two of them to a survivor. A man with blonde hair slowly picked himself off the ground.

"What happened?" The super soldier quickly rushed to his aid.

"Gods damned bandits." The man groaned in pain. "They… came out of nowhere, took us by surprise. These guys aren't just looking to steal from us. It looks like they're not taking prisoners, at least… not male prisoners."

"How many guards are here?" John pressed for more information.

"We've only got twenty posted last I saw. I don't know if they're still alive."

"Understood." The spartan grabbed some medical items. "This'll stop the bleeding. Once we're done here, steer clear until all hostiles are eliminated."

His selection of meds were limited and he had no biofoam, which would have made it easier. Fortunately, as long as the wounds could be closed, he would survive.

"Wait." Ruby's voice sounded upset. "You don't mean you're going to kill the bandits."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do." The Chief replied.

This almost felt like an extreme case of dealing with the Insurrectionists. It wasn't unheard of for human rebels to take such drastic actions against large civilian populations just to make a point.

These bandits must either be desperate or very cruel. Either way, using deadly force was the only surefire way to end this threat permanently.

"B-but those are people!" Ruby didn't seem to understand that. "It's not right to kill people!"

"No, it's not." Spartan 117 rose to his full height, ready for battle. "But I'm not about to take chances."

"Isn't there another way?" Ruby pleaded with him, a hand on his gauntlet. "There has to be!"

"No." John affirmed.

However cruel that it was to take the life of another person, he couldn't ignore the death and chaos. The longer this dragged out, the worse the Grimm problem would be. Sparing any of these bandits was just too much of a risk. They could start something and the problem wouldn't be solved.

The Chief knew perfectly well right from wrong. Mendez has taught him as much during Spartan-II training, but when in the heat of battle, taking the moral high ground could lead to a massive loss of life. If given a choice between saving lives and being morally sound, the super soldier would always choose the former.

Morality could always be rebuilt, but lives could never be replaced. With that in mind, he decided on his next course of action.

"Stay here." The man in armor informed his teenage tagalong.

"You're going alone?" Ruby's panic was visible. "But you said that going alone means you die!"

"You aren't willing to kill." The spartan put it bluntly. "I don't trust you to have my back. Stay here and watch him. If you spot any Grimm, do not engage. Avoid them."

His harsh words looked to have reached her. She offered no resistance, simply bowing her head, signalling that she would stay out of the fight. Satisfied with her compliance, he proceeded forward into the blazing village.

His ears tracked each and every sight and sound. It looked like a considerable number of civilians were still alive and fighting for their lives. Now that he thought about it, he didn't ask for a way to identify friendies from foes. That meant he would have to rely on his own judgement and hope that his aim was true.

As he advanced into the small town, he took note of the various bodies littering the street. From the way things were going, it looked like these people weren't given ample time to prepare for this attack. This had to be the result of a planned surprise attack. Also of note was that most of the dead were male. Only a few females were among the fallen.

When he heard a distinctly feminine shrill, John looked to his four o'clock and spotted a group of roughly-dressed men grabbing a woman. They were systematically taking turns handling her. Judging by the way they were holding her, they were the hostile element.

While in running motion, he pointed his assault rifle, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. His first two bursts were direct hits. Red blood filled the air. Before the remaining ones could even react, he slammed his fist into the face of another, the feeling of something caving in resulting. The butt of his MA5D came to smack the jaw of another, the sound of a crack resounding. The final one was quickly hoisted by the neck before it got crushed, a body soon falling to the ground.

Three seconds. Five tangos down.

"Ma'am." The Master Chief bent down to check the female civilian. "Are you okay?"

She didn't have any wounds that he could see. The only thing wrong was that her attire was shredded, leaving her somewhat exposed.

"Y-yes." She appeared shaken but she was able to formulate words. "Thank you."

"Is there somewhere you can hide for now?" The spartan asked. "Until I clear the village, you're not safe."

"T-there's a hidden shelter to the northeast." The woman pointed in the general direction. "We all know where to go."

"Good." John sweeped the area before asking his final question. "Did you see anyone else in trouble?"

"I-I don't think there are many left." She was shaking so much. "The last I saw, they were taking the women away, maybe that way."

According to her, they were heading southwest. Maybe they were regrouping or taking stock of their status.

"Understood." The super soldier kept his guard up. "Make your way to the front gate before moving to the shelter. The way clear for now."

"Yeah, I will." She took a few steps before looking back. "Thank you, whoever you are."

The man in MJOLNIR nodded once, then took off to his right. Isolating the sound of the fire from human sounds was proving to be a bit problematic. It was only through practice and experience that he was able to have a semblance of clarity.

He encountered four additional targets, all of them unaware of him and it remained that way as he shot them all with bursts of 7.62 mm fire.

His motion tracker was picking up movement to his eleven o'clock. The smoke temporarily obscured his vision. In order to see through the smog, he switched modes on his HUD.

"HELP US!" A man screamed once he saw the green armor.

"STAY BACK!" Another grabbed the first man by his neck. "ANOTHER STEP AND I'LL-"

The aggressor didn't finish his declaration as a perfectly-aligned shot struck him dead in the center of his forehead. Blood came pouring from the wound as the lifeless form fell to the ground. Wasting no time, the Chief rushed forward to assess the situation.

"Are you hurt?"

"Just some internal wounds, nothing serious. I can walk. Thanks, stranger."

"Have you seen anyone else?"

"I don't know. I was just trying to buy myself some time until I could escape."

"The way to the main gate is clear. Are you okay to go on your own?"

"Sure."

**Halo - - - RWBY**

Ruby clutched the large pistol in her hands. It was the only tangible thing that she felt was keeping her sane in this insane environment.

She couldn't even begin to explain the inferno that she was witnessing. She had her own internal flames to deal with. The unsolved emotions that she was dealing with didn't help matters. It was all just chaos and she couldn't do a thing about it.

A small part of her wanted nothing more than to shake off all of her doubts and emotions and just get in there to kick some butt. As much as this part of her had been beaten down just today, she wanted to hold out that hope.

That was easier said than done though.

"But what can I do?" Ruby whispered to herself, hugging her only weapon closer to her body. "I couldn't save myself and now you're telling me to save a village?"

She tried to rationalize. Killing Grimm was one thing, but saving a village from bad people was completely out of her scope of experience. Furthermore, the notion that she might have to take a life was the ultimate thing preventing her from taking a step into the blaze. Being a huntress was all about being an example to the people. If she crossed that line, then she could no longer be that example.

Why had the Master Chief just gone in without even breaking a sweat?

Why could he commit to such an action?

What motivated him to do this?

Ruby didn't think of the man in armor as a bad guy. He was far from the most pleasant person she had met, but he knew himself well and he knew what actions to take and how to stick by those actions. That's how she thought he looked, but this was hardly a window into the reasoning behind his decision to kill.

No matter how she tried to process it, murder was wrong no matter how it was done and undert what circumstances it was done. It was just bad, plain and simple and she wasn't about doing bad stuff. All her life, she had read the stories and learned the exploits of historical figures and fictional characters, all of them triumphing over evil through pure good and nothing else. Time and time again, she had been told that the act of killing was one of the worst things that could be done.

But when caught in a life and death situation, did that really matter anymore?

The Chief didn't think so apparently.

How could he justify killing and be a good guy?

Why?

More than anything, she wanted to understand him, understand his actions, and his logic. He was her best bet at figuring out how to deal with all of these conflicting sides.

Ruby stood up, then remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

"You want to help him, don't you?" The guard she was supposed to be watching noticed the glint in her eyes.

"No, I need to stay here with you." Ruby shook her head. "I can't abandon you."

"You don't need to worry about me, girl." The man chuckled as he managed to remain composed. "I've been at this longer than you've been alive. I can handle myself. Just go. He is your friend, right? Friends don't leave each other behind."

"Friends." Ruby tested the word.

She wasn't sure if that was an apt description of their relationship.

Still, she didn't want to fight without any backup.

Ruby made her decision.

* * *

**I wrote this chapter in all of three days and this will be my last official chapter of 2019. Man, we're ending the 2010's and we're entering into the 2020's. A new decade. I wonder what possibilities await for the world.**

**As many of you have probably guessed already, Ruby needs to go through some serious changes if she's to work alongside the Master Chief. She has yet to understand that when it comes to fighting people, morality is never that simple. Yes, we want to be good people and we want to always do right, but when faced with death, most people will want to protect their life or the lives of their friends and family. Consider this as a sort of wakeup call for Ruby.**

**As for the Master Chief, he's not completely without some flaws too. After all, he's still dealing with the loss of Cortana. Or rather, he knows that Cortana is 'dead' logically speaking, but his emotions haven't caught up and he hasn't properly processed that grief he's still holding, so he's got his own problems.**

**Some of you have raised concerns as to how the Chief stacks up in combat against experienced veterans like Qrow and Raven and I can assure you that Spartan 117 is more than a worthy foe for the likes of them. Remember that John is one of only two spartans that is rated as Hyper-Lethal Vector. As far as I understand it, this phrase means that he exceeds the extremely high expectations of a SpecOps division. In short, a literal one-man army. You guys still worried about the Master Chief?**

**Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated. What do you guys think about how I'm framing Ruby and her struggles? How do you think I handled the Chief's resposes to her naivety?**

**Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope all of you make the most of the rest of 2019 and this decade and I'll see you all in the next decade. Here's hoping it's a spectacular one!**

_**"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'**_

**Alfred Lord Tennysen**


	7. OPERATION ENEMY CONTACT

**CHAPTER 7: OPERATION ENEMY CONTACT**

** 2046 Hours, August 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

The Master Chief quietly snapped a man's neck with one swift motion. The hostile didn't even know he was dead and he never would as he began to fall only to be caught and carefully dropped to the ground so as not to cause any more noise. Then the body was quietly hoisted over the shoulder and relocated to a secluded location. Once that was disposed of, the super soldier resumed his trailing.

He had been engaging with more bandits as he followed their obvious trail. Whoever they were being led by clearly had no sense of stealth whatsoever. All of the Spartan-II's in their earliest years of training were superior to these men in that regard. That just made his job all the easier. The less of a fight that the enemy put up, the lesser the chances of civilian casualties.

Based on the tracks that he was currently following, there were many individuals going in the same general direction. He counted at least seven unique footprints in the dirt. With all the damage that the village had sustained, the number of hostiles leaving felt incorrect. There had to have been more. These men were far from professional soldiers who could hold their ground against countless waves of enemies.

Spartan 117 held his MA5D carefully at the ready, his trigger finger ready to move into action. Isolating any doubt and hesitation in his mind, he focused solely on everything going on around him.

The night had fallen and what light there was could be attributed to the shattered moon above his head. This did little to hamper his visibility; his eyes were more than sufficient for him to see detail at night. He also had MJOLNIR's night vision mode for additional support as well as headlights on his helmet. However, for the sake of maintaining his stealth-like approach, he opted to not use his external lights.

John kept a constant watch on his footsteps, making sure his level of audible sound was kept to a minimum. While doing this, he listened to every single sound he heard. Having trained in the forests of Reach, he had gained a sort of understanding about what was natural to a forest and what was not. It wasn't something he could easily explain in words. It was merely a learned and practiced skill.

He halted in his tracks. He could hear some voices, all male from the sounds of it, but after concentrating for a second more, he could hear some moans and groans, and those were definitely female. It sounded just like what he had been informed about; these bandits were taking all female civilians with them.

He didn't know much about people who lived outside of the military, but he knew enough to realize what this situation was. The Insurrectionists had proven on more than one occasion that they were willing to go to great lengths to achieve their goals, big or small.

He would not allow it.

The Chief carefully moved a branch with leaves out of his field of vision. He was now on high alert. He was alone for this one, so he couldn't make a mistake. If he failed, innocents were going to get caught up in something that they couldn't properly defend against.

The voices were getting closer.

The war veteran checked that his magazine was full, then reloaded the clip into the rifle and pulled the charging handle. The counter read thirty-two rounds. He reached for his M6D pistol to do the same thing, but then remembered that he had given it to Ruby.

In hindsight, it was not a good idea to hand his sidearm to a mentally unstable fifteen year old girl. Now he didn't have a precision weapon, which would make hostage rescue far more difficult. His best chance of freeing the villagers rested solely on his ability to take out the enemy quickly and remaining unseen. He couldn't risk a frontal assault nor could he engage in a firefight. Both those scenarios would definitely end in needless casualties. A weapon built for accuracy would have reduced risk significantly.

But when he thought about how the silver-eyed girl looked, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the fledgling huntress. He had seen that look on the faces of many young soldiers just entering the Human-Covenant War. It was that look of shock that was experienced for the first time when taking life or seeing a squadmate get killed firsthand. It was an experience that never left anyone once it had been seen.

It didn't matter now. He would have to make do with his MA5D. He would need to keep his fire in bursts of two to three rounds.

John steeled his nerves and advanced, keeping an eye on his surroundings to keep track of the physical trail left behind all the while listening for the voices that were growing closer.

"Where the fuck are the other?" One voice.

"Taking their sweet time, apparently. Those guys were REALLY eager!" A second voice.

"What the fuck! Fine, if those horndogs want to fuck while getting burned alive, fine by me." The first voice again.

"Weren't Taylor and Jackson behind us? I haven't seen them." A third one.

"They just went out for a quick patrol. They'll be back in a few minutes." Four voices.

"Whatever. Once they get back, we're pulling out. I'm not about to fuck up what we've got here." The first voice answered. "We'll sell off most of em and keep a few around."

"I don't want to go!" A female voice.

"Shut up!" The first voice roared. "Bitches don't get to talk back!"

Because of all the chatter, these guys were practically giving away their location. Additionally, the light that they were giving off weren't doing much to conceal their presence. Now that he was fast-approaching where all the commotion was coming from, he could clearly distinguish between moonlight and artificial light.

The Master Chief honed in on the location. Once he found himself about fifty meters from the situation, he carefully got down on the ground into a prone position and began to crawl the rest of the way there, doing everything in his ability to become one with the forest. Thankfully, the color of his suit would help him camouflage with the rest of the greenery of the forest. The darkness would be of some assistance as well.

His helmeted head saw something that definitely marked human activity. It was a roughly-pitched tent that was about fifteen meters from his position. Craning his head to get a better look around, he realized that this was an entire encampment. There had to be at least ten mid-sized tents. There was no method to how they were placed. It was as if they had been set up haphazardly without a care in the universe.

Aiming his rifle, he scanned the area in his current still position. He could see many men that were heavily armed. He counted nine visible targets. Some were armed with guns while others had melee weapons ranging from clubs to swords and daggers. There was absolutely no sense of consistency among these combatants. They just looked like random people thrown together. Their sense of protocol and communication was highly unprofessional and far too casual.

Sierra 117 got into a crouch position and gently moved to scout the entirety of the perimeter. His initial count of tents was consistent. There were ten in total, each looking to house anywhere between four to eight individuals. His initial count of nine tangos was increased to thirty-one and judging from the conversations he was hearing, there were more, but they all either in the village on the way back, in which they were already most likely dead by the spartan's hand.

Eventually, the MJOLNIR-clad man found exactly what he was looking for. From a slightly-higher vantage point, he could see the center of the camp where hostages were being held. He could now confirm that they were all civilians and all females of varying ages. Their expressions varied in emotional visibility, but they all shared a look of fear. All of them were clustered together so as to keep some distance between themselves and the men forming a circle around them.

John began to formulate a plan. He needed to create an opening which would allow him to draw as many of them out as possible. The trouble was that no matter how many he could eliminate, eventually someone would notice that their numbers were dwindling mysteriously. When he ran some scenarios through his head, he came back to the first conclusion that he had reached.

At this time, his best course of action was to covertly kill as many as possible until the rest of the camp became alert. That would be when he would ambush the rest of their ranks. This plan relied upon two halfs, one logical and one a gamble, not ideal no matter the perspective.

The Master Chief did a final weapons check.

Although he wasn't one to rely on luck to win his battles for him, he couldn't help but hope that his luck wouldn't let him down this time.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**2107 Hours**

Ruby ran in the direction that she had last seen the Master Chief run off to. Along the way, there were some villagers that she crossed paths with. When she asked about the whereabouts of a man in green armor, they pointed her towards the woods. From there, she simply just went on a straight path.

This was a stupid idea all around. She was barely dressed as she was, she had only a single pistol to protect herself, and her moral state was unstable.

But no matter what sort of reason there was not to go and find him, she wanted to find him.

No, she needed to find him.

Ruby didn't understand her savior well. She didn't know his real name. She didn't know what his hobbies were. She didn't know anything about his background. She didn't know anything personal about him at all. The things she knew was this: he was a soldier, he lived and breathed the military, and he was always serious.

Based on those things alone, that wasn't really much for her to latch onto. If not for his unique weapons and armor as well as his refusal to divulge any information pertaining to himself, she might have simply moved on and not given him much more thought. As things were, she would have been content to simply let her obsession with all things related to fighting do its thing. Then she tagged along with him to retrieve her weapon and maybe compare nots as to what sort of weapons worked.

Then all of this had to happen and now she felt afraid to pick up a weapon for fear that the next time would be the last time for sure.

But if he could push through this madness like it was nothing, why couldn't she?

Ruby had put in so much effort strengthening her body and her mind. Years of constant work had led her to being the scythe-wielder that she was today. She had been at the top of her class at Signal Academy when it came to being a Grimm hunter. She even put in the extra effort to be the best role model that she could be for those that wanted to aspire to be like her.

So why wasn't it enough?

She had to find him. She had to know why he could fight on and why she couldn't.

She needed to know what she had done wrong.

Her next mistake was that she couldn't see much of anything. The darkness of night surrounded her and she didn't have anything close to a light source. Not even her busted scroll would do the trick. So here she was, fumbling near-blind in the dark with only the moonlight above giving her anything to look at. At best, she could see the outlines of stuff. Maybe there was a forest in front of her, but she didn't know for sure.

Along the way, she felt something hitting her boots, but in the dark, she paid no mind to any of it, only losing her footing for a brief moment before resuming her pace, but she did detect a faint smell in the air. It almost smelled like metal, but it wasn't a highly distinctive smell, just something she noticed offhand.

Then she remembered that the Chief had gone off with the intent to kill.

"Oh, gods." Ruby felt herself growing a little nauseous. "I don't want to see blood today. Please have no blood today."

That was a stupid thing to ask for considering that she was heading into a kill zone willingly and knowingly, all for the sake of trying to search for the one person that could help her figure out what she was doing.

Or something to that tune.

Ruby forcefully ignored her sense of smell. She just had to pretend that she hadn't come across anything horrendous and it would be okay. She just needed to keep moving and do whatever it took to find the Master Chief.

That's when she heard the distinct sound of gunfire. It was unlike anything she had ever heard and she had heard many different types of guns. Pistols, submachine guns, machine guns, rifles, everything and anything. The sound she was hearing was nothing like the things that she had heard before.

That had to be where he was.

The sound was distant, but it was clear and crisp. Additionally, the fire was repeated. It sounded like controlled bursts as well. There was also the sound of screaming and crying. Whoever he was fighting didn't sound like they were having a fun time.

Ruby did her best to triangulate where all the noise was coming from, which became easier as more layers piled atop each other. Once she found the general direction, she could then see a faint light in the distance. That had to be it.

The silver-eyed girl then realized that she was shaking all over. Her hands clutching the pistol were absolutely shaking, creating a light metallic reverberance. Not only that, she felt sweat that she had no recollection of. It almost felt like she had just gone swimming, then came out and only roughly dried herself.

She felt herself backing up, with the back of her right foot hitting something, most likely a tree given that it remained steady in spite of her hitting it somewhat forcefully. Her breathing shifted from being steady to being erratic.

_Nononono!_ Ruby mentally chided herself. _Not here! Not now!_

She bent down to the ground and forced her mouth closed and held her breath. She had no idea what this was supposed to do for her, but she did it on instinct. Closing her eyes, she saw black, nothingness. That brought a small sense of relief into her systems and she felt her thoughts drift away from the bad stuff.

After taking another minute, she unsteadily got back on her feet and held her weapon in ready position. She didn't need to think, just do.

She ran into the forest. If she came across an obstacle, she found a way around. If she felt tired, she just pushed further. If she felt her thoughts drifting, she pushed her body harder so she could feel the pain in her muscles.

Don't think. Just do.

The light source was getting brighter, but the sounds were quieter.

She was almost there. Just a little further and she would find him.

When Ruby eyes first sighted a bright torch, she shielded her vision. It was too bright for her after running in near total darkness. She took yet another half a minute to slowly adjust to the light source. She carefully removed her arm and took a good look around.

Bodies.

Many bodies.

Blood pools all around.

Shell casings.

Weapons scattered.

For a moment, the fifteen year old girl didn't register the sight of death in front of her. She figured it must be her mind playing tricks on her. She closed her eyes tightly, whispering to herself in the process.

"It's fine. Everything's fine." Ruby said the words. "I'll open my eyes and everything'll be fine."

Her eyelids reopened.

Still bodies.

Still many bodies.

Still pools of blood.

Still shell casings.

Still weapons scattered.

This time, she didn't deny the sight in front of her and in response, she felt something coming up her throat. She fell on all four and vomited the contents of her stomach. The burning sensation distracted her for all of a minute. Once that was done, she lifted her head again only to see the same horrible sight.

_I've got to get out of here._ Ruby felt her mind going into flight mode. _Just go somewhere, anywhere. Just don't stay here!_

So the fledgling huntress kept her head up and desperately attempted to avoid looking at anything below. That plan worked for no less than a few seconds as she sprinted into another section of this camp.

She saw him.

A tall figure in futuristic armor surveying all of the damage all around. In front of him were women and girls of differing races, ages, and physical looks gathered, all of them trying to cuddle together for safety.

"Chief." Ruby's voice felt hoarse.

His helmeted head turned to her, his rifle aimed at her head for less than a second before it was lowered.

"What are you doing here?" The man's voice was even. "I told you to stay back and help the villagers."

"I… wanted to help." Ruby gathered her thoughts, pushing past the shocking sight she had only just seen. "I can help."

"You are not needed." The Master Chief disagreed. "There is nothing left for you to do here."

"Yes, but-" Ruby began.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement. What should have been a dead man suddenly had lifted up his head and one arm.

There was a giant fire crystal in his hand.

If this were a different time, maybe she would have done just enough to incapacitate.

But fear combined with frayed nerves, adrenaline, and her training had her raise her borrowed pistol.

She felt her finger pull the trigger.

She heard a powerful sound.

She momentarily saw a round fly.

Ruby did this, then a bit of her mind came back to her.

What did she just do?

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2121 Hours**

The Master Chief saw Ruby fire his M6D magnum with a proper grip and accuracy that was most definitely the product of practice. Also, her reaction time was fast as well. His motion tracker had seen movement and he would have done something but she beat him to the punch.

Once his mind comprehended those observations, he quickly swerved his entire body around to see what her single shot had hit.

One of the bandits, who he thought was dead from three shots to the abdomen, had somehow gotten back up and in his hand held what he identified to be a crystal of a red color. From his basic understanding of this world, he identified the object as a fire crystal. He didn't know much about the properties of the item, but he could make a guess: a final suicide attack to take them all out.

The spartan held his assault rifle and pointed it outward, searching for any remaining hostiles. Since he had forgotten to confirm that all the targets that he shot were dead, he wouldn't be making that mistake a second time.

His motion sensor then pinged more movement on his seven o'clock. A dull roar followed.

The Grimm.

"The Grimm are coming." The Master Chief turned to all the former captives. "I'm told that your village has a fallout shelter. Go there at once. Don't stop for anything at all."

"Yes, sir." One of the women stood up, looking calm. "You all heard the man! We need to go now!"

Because there were quite a few civilians, it took some time for all of them to compose themselves before they started moving in the general direction of their destination. All the while, the super soldier kept his MA5D aimed at his new 12 o'clock. They didn't have much time before enemy contact.

He momentarily glanced to check on Ruby. She stood with her head drooped and his M6D held loosely in her right hand.

"Ruby." John couldn't deal with this right now. "You came to help me. You should have known this could have happened, so snap out of it."

The girl was responsive as she glanced at him and then her eyes began sweeping the area, but she was far from ready to do anything other than be dead weight.

"Ruby." The Master Chief stepped up to her and firmly placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you can't be helpful, then leave. Now."

His grip brought her back to reality. She looked up into his visor. This expression was one that he had seen so many times in soldiers and marines. Whenever the Covenant began to bombard worlds with columns of plasma, everyone knew that the world was doomed. There was no stopping the glassing of a planet's surface once it began.

She was feeling the same thing; the Grimm had nearly ended her life and she hadn't properly sorted out herself.

"I'm fine." Ruby's voice was meek and unassuring. "I okay."

"No you're not." The spartan was growing impatient. "You're getting in the way. Head back to the village."

The sound a tree collapsing to the ground alerted both of them.

"Go." John ordered.

He pushed her behind himself, aiming the barrel of his rifle at the very large black figure with red eyes. An Alpha Beowolf stepped forward. In reply to the challenge set by the veteran, the beast let out a guttural growl, most likely an attempt to intimidate and subdue.

The Chief charged, firing his rifle. Six rounds to the head. All hit the target, but they didn't like that had a massive effect on the Grimm. In response, a limb was swung at him. He sidestepped forward, allowing the strike to graze his side before slamming the butt of the MA5D into its head. His strength was enough to stumble the creature, its entire body lurching backward. The super soldier raised his weapon, waited for half a second, then pulled the trigger again. His shot struck home: the right eye. This produced a more visible result as the beast was now crippled.

He glanced to his back and to his dismay, Ruby was still there, watching him fight. She was out in the open and more of the Grimm could arrive at any moment.

Why couldn't she listen to his instructions?

His motion tracker alerted him to at least a dozen distinct contacts. They were about to be surrounded. They needed to evacuate this place with haste.

Spartan 117 head did an instinctive scanning of his surroundings, checking quickly for anything that might be useful in a fight. That's when his eyes fell to the man Ruby had shot. The red crystal in his hand was still there. Without giving much thought, the armor-clad man grabbed the object and stored it in one of his pouches.

He then grabbed Ruby in his left arm, hoisting her up without difficulty before taking off at a running pace. A forest wasn't an ideal place to be encircled. Too many potential obstacles blocking off any chance of an escape route was not going to bode well for either of them.

There wasn't much point to hiding either, so the only thing to do was just keep going and not stop until they reached relative safety, whatever that could mean at this time.

It looked like a sizable pack had come from out of the woodworks. The emotions present here might be particularly potent if this many were converging on this location.

John recalled the direction which the civilians were fleeing. Then he took note of Grimm locations via his motion sensor. Judging on what he was seeing, they were concentrating on his very position.

At first, that made no sense. If these things were attracted to negative emotions, wouldn't it be more plausible to go after the villagers?

Weren't they emitting many more emotions than he was at this time?

The slight sound of breathing had his head turning down to see Ruby having all but resigned herself to her fate.

_That's right._ He now understood. _Ruby's not fully recovered and she's closest to the Grimm._

The Master Chief halted in his tracks and did a full 360 surveillance of his immediate surroundings. After he confirmed the area to be safe for the moment, he took a knee next to a massive tree. He set her down and she limpy took a seating position with her back against the trunk of the tree.

There was no counting on her to do anything useful, but she wouldn't run and she wouldn't fight. What was he supposed to do with her?

_There's only one thing left to do._The war veteran of thirty plus years checked his weapon. _We hold the line here._

"I'll engage. Stay here and don't move from this spot." The spartan made sure that she was paying attention by gripping her arm somewhat tightly. "If you see a Grimm, get down and don't move a muscle."

His eyes flickered to his motion tracker for the umpteenth time. There was roughly about a twenty-five meter radius between them and danger. He didn't have any more time left to play babysitter.

"No" Ruby then spoke. "I'll help you. I know I can. Just please don't leave me doing nothing."

Those words she spoke sounded strangely familiar to him. For a moment, he saw an old memory come back to him. The night sky, Covenant attacking, and him evacuating three cadets off a planet.

John's blue eyes caught sight of Ruby's silver eyes. In all of his years of service, one thing that was consistent no matter who he spoke to was that their eyes told him what was going through their heads. He might not be able to understand every single detail consciously, but on some level, he understood what was going on when staring at someone eye to eye.

"You could die." He warned her. "You do know that."

"You said to never fight alone." She met him with fierce determination. "But you're doing just that, so I want to help you so you don't have to do it alone."

Bold words indeed, but she was positively scared out of her wits. Her posture was tense, her hands were rattling the M6D, and her teeth were chattering.

He could offer her no words to rebuke her, but lowered himself just a little bit further to make clear their difference in height, a sort of augmentation to his testing her willpower and strength.

Not once did she tear her expression from his helmet.

She was afraid.

But it was the right kind of fear.

"If you're going to be useful, then you need to follow my instructions to the letter. There can be no room for mistakes. Am I clear?"

"Crystal." Ruby nodded once.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**2130 Hours**

She mentally reviewed what she needed to do one more time. She honestly wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she sure as hell wasn't about to concoct a plan in the mental state that she was currently in.

For the first time this night, she felt her mind working properly. She wouldn't say that she was fully clear, but she was doing something and that was better than nothing, right?

She shook her head. She needed to stop distracting herself. The only thing she needed to do was to do her part for the plan.

Ruby silently took a deep breath, held her breath, then exhaled. A slight breeze caught her and she noted that her clothes were still in tatters. The towel that the Chief had provided was being utilized as a makeshift cape, which partially covered her. Aside from the indecency, she couldn't say that she was uncomfortable. It was summer, after all.

The teenage girl held her weapon close to her chest. She had been given two additional magazines and she had a near-full one inside the weapon, but her job wasn't to go running and gunning. She had a much different job. Once she was given the word, she would spring into action.

So she waited.

She could feel sweat clinging to her skin.

She counted a few seconds in her mind.

She tested the weight of the pistol.

She then heard a short whistle, not very loud, but it didn't need to be because it was only supposed to be heard by her ears.

Ruby ran six steps forward, then seemingly fired blindly at her 12 o'clock. It appeared to be nothing more than wasted shots, but in truth, she had been instructed to do exactly that by the Master Chief.

A second after her muzzle produced flashes from the bullets exiting the gun, she heard some dull thumps. She must've at least killed one Grimm in that brief volley. Whether or not her shots landed or not wasn't the goal.

The goal was to draw out all of them into the open space that she now occupied and just as anticipated, red eyes began to appear all around and for an abrupt moment, she felt her blood freeze.

Then she remembered the Chief's parting words before the execution of this maneuver.

_Don't think. Just do. It's killed or be killed._

Ruby knew that in this moment, as scared as she was of what she could become thanks to her actions today, she did know that she didn't want to die.

She took another deep breath.

And miraculously, she felt fine.

That was sort of amazing to her.

* * *

**This challenge that I've instilled on myself for writing so much in a single month is an enormous undertaking, but at the same time, it's very rewarding. When I imagine the scenes that I want to occur in my mind, I just get a little bit more eager each time. When you're updating eight stories a month, or what is equivalent to 40k words a month, you start to wonder just where did you get all this motivation.**

**Many of you have been discussing how Ruby is in dire need of learning how to become a character who is more serious when it comes to combat and while I do agree with that, I need to make sure that in some respects, Ruby remains who she is at her core. Without that, she's not Ruby anymore.**

**As for the Chief, he's got a lot of things he needs to sort out, not that it'll happen quickly, but it will happen. He just needs a little bit more time to get coaxed into a more proper mindset.**

**Thoughts on this chapter? Feedback is appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading.**

_**"Hitch your wagon to a star."**_

**Ralph Waldo Emerson**


	8. OPERATION FIGHT THE FEAR

**CHAPTER 8: OPERATION FIGHT THE FEAR**

**2132 Hours, August 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

The Master Chief heard Ruby discharge several rounds from his M6D. He then saw her run out into the open space that they had designated as the kill zone. It would be the place where the Grimm would be lured to their deaths.

This trap had been hastily put together and there was no time to do a runthrough. They had to get it right the first time or they would be forced to retreat.

The girl had done her part; she had caused a distraction and had drawn all of the monsters toward her. She was now surrounded on all sides.

Now it was time for him to do his part.

Spartan 117 took off into a momentary spring, gaining just enough speed so that he could enhance his jump. He emerged from the forest, nearly ten meters in the air. While he did this, he casually tossed the large fire crystal he had reappropriated from the dead bandit. He saw the object being pulled by gravity to the intended destination. He waited as second and a half before firing a couple rounds at the crystal. This ignited the object, turning the area surrounding Ruby into a ring of fire, instantly incinerating all the hostiles caught in the circle.

Usually, controlling fire was hard to do unless one placed easily flammable material in a certain way, which was what they had done. They had taken some dry wood and other dried up leaves and other forest items that burned easily and set it all up in a circle. Because this was an artificially-created fire being created with some degree of control, it hopefully wouldn't spiral into a wild fire.

The supersoldier landed within a meter of Ruby, placed his MA5D on his back and quickly activated his hardlight shield, the blue surface projecting in front of him. He maneuvered himself so that he stood behind Ruby and placed his defensive tool in front of her as well as himself. From her reflection off the shield, she looked absolutely awed by what was currently happening.

"Don't fire unless I give the order." John warned her. "I don't have enough bullets to last through a prolonged engagement."

"R-right!" Ruby gripped the M6D, holding it down to the ground, her finger ready to move to the trigger. "Ready!"

The mini inferno the two of them had created served as a beacon to other Grimm, most of them not smart enough to conceive of another way forward other than directly through the flames. Because of the intensity of the fire, most couldn't even get through it before being burned severely and turning to ashes without so much as getting close.

It almost felt like watching some sort of hellish ritual occurring as bodies came flying from all sides and were either instantly burned to a crisp or made it through the ring only to collapse on fire and then disintegrate. The air was beginning to fill with so much smoke and the odor was absolutely foul.

Both spartan and budding huntress remained as they were, only shifting to check blind spots. The former kept his hardlight shield active while the latter held her weapon close to her chest.

The snapping and crackling all around them was enough to mostly muffle the sounds of roars and howls. Orange and yellow and red danced in their field of vision. Strangely enough, neither of them seemed perturbed by the potentially deadly fire all around them. If anything, the two of them slowly began to adjust and fall into the rhythm of watching their enemies come flying at them only to drop like flies.

The Master Chief deactivated his hardlight shield once he felt sure that he wasn't going to have a need for it. He readied his MA5D, pointing it at the ground as he kneeled.

Even in his current posture, he was still taller than Ruby.

And speaking of the girl in question, she was quivering, albeit not fiercely. She must still be feeling the fear of facing the Grimm, but she was failing in her attempts to ward off that fear completely.

The effort was appreciated, even if the attempt was misguided.

"Stop fighting the fear." Spartan 117 grasped her shoulder and squeezed with minimal pressure. "You'll never get it under control."

From personal experience, fear was the ultimate enemy, yet at the same time it was a presence that was always following him no matter what. At first, the best way to contain that fear was to just let the survival instinct take over, but that could only get him so far; intelligence was a necessity to emerging from numerous life-threatening situations, so he had to find another way.

Over the course of his military career, John found that the best way to deal with that fear was to admit to feeling it, then remember that there were more important things than being afraid. By constantly reminding himself of what he was supposed to do as a spartan, he was able to push forward despite the adversity he faced.

Eventually, as his time on the battlefield increased, so too did his ability to control his fear, but he never stopped feeling that fear. Anyone who valued their life or the lives of others never truly ceased to feel fear.

Now that he was contemplating how he was able to cope with his own fear, he felt that his words to Ruby were not ideal. How could he reasonably expect a child with no experience in life and death situations to simply control her fear like he could?

Nothing in her posture indicated that she had gone off the rails. As long as her sanity remained intact until this was all over, she would have to be okay. Perhaps this was the sort of experience that was critical for her. Maybe then she would discard any lingering traces of her idealistic notions and focus on what mattered as a huntress.

All what-if scenarios that were irrelevant to the current task at hand, but still something that came to his mind.

Maybe there was something in this girl that reflected himself.

The Master Chief noted that the artificial flames created by the fire crystal were beginning to subside, but at this point, the number of Grimm had been thinned out to only a handful and these were easily dispatched with several accurate bursts of MA5D fire. By the time the fire had all but extinguished by itself, there was nothing but a black and charred landscape all around.

"Hostiles suppressed." The man in armor stood up and did another sweep, keeping his rifle trained until he confirmed no more targets.

"Y-yeah." Ruby rose to her feet unsteadily. "We're done."

"We need to head back to the village and search for any stragglers that might not have evacuated." John pointed his left hand back in the direction of the village. "Stick close to me. More Grimm could be on the way. If you see anything suspicious, speak up."

The supersoldier turned on his external lights in order to give Ruby something to follow. Thankfully, she remained close to his side, so he didn't have to concern himself with watching her from behind.

The trek out of the forest was relatively quiet with the occasional clatter of weapons making noise, the sound of MJOLNIR as each footstep was taken, and Ruby regulating her breathing, returning it to normal levels. Aside from those things and the wind that rustled the branches and leaves, there wasn't much else to hear. The animals in the forest had all but abandoned the area.

The Chief took note of his motion tracker, glossing over the yellow friendly at his five o'clock. There were no tangos according to his HUD, but he didn't let his guard down. In the dead of night, it was especially important to be alert. The Grimm were already dangerous enough during the daytime, but at night, they could attack like a ghost. Their bodies provided for excellent natural camouflage against the darkness.

That was when he heard a roar unlike any he had heard before. It made him stop for a second and his compatriot followed.

"Chief?" Ruby's voice was anxious.

"Another one." Spartan 117 checked how much ammunition he had left. "Three hundred fifty meters out."

"I've n-never heard that kind of Grimm before." Ruby chimed in. "A-are we going to check it out?"

"We have to." The spartan responded. "We can't leave anything to chance, especially not an unknown."

He did agree with her on one point; he didn't recognize the type of noise that he had heard. He had to assume it was Grimm because he wasn't aware of any species of animal living in a temperate environment that made such a noise.

"Do a weapon check." The Master Chief ordered. "A malfunction in the middle of a fight is the last thing we need."

He tilted his head down to see if she would follow the proper procedure. She first made sure that there was no chance of a negligent discharge before removing the clip, inspecting the weapon for any jams or obvious signs of problems before reinserting the clip back into the mag and cocking back the slide. She pointed the weapon at the ground and held her trigger against the side of the M6D.

"It's good." Ruby was now calm.

He stared at her for a few seconds, then resumed his pace and she followed suit.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**2200 Hours**

The only thing keeping her from experiencing even more unsettled nerves was her guardian angel that led her. He was a walking personification of a soldier: serious, focused, and professional. Nothing seemed to phase him and nothing seemed to get in his way for long.

A silent, but strong warrior.

How did he do it?

Ruby could only ask herself that question constantly as she followed alongside him. These past few hours had shown her what he was capable of doing and she had a feeling that she was only seeing some of the things he could do. Not once in this entire ordeal had he even so much as flinched. He was a stone wall that couldn't be broken down no matter what was thrown at him. She wouldn't be surprised if he could inspire the fears of the gods into the Grimm.

The girl heard his boots hitting the ground and she remembered that they were still in a danger zone and that she was relying on him to see in the dark. Unlike some faunus, she didn't have the ability to see in the dark naturally. She was forced to rely on the Chief's helmet lights as her guiding light.

She felt so helpless in a situation like this. She couldn't see without him. She couldn't remain calm without him. She couldn't even fight properly without him. Everything that she was doing now was because of him and if not for him, she would be dead and she wasn't about to waste that generosity and go die.

She really wanted to live.

Ruby kept her eyes ahead of her, using her senses like she had never used them before. She listened to the sounds her ears picked up. She took a deep breath in and exhaled, taking note of the smells she could detect. She felt the warm air all around her and the slight breezes against her skin. With her sense of sight somewhat muted, she was unusually attuned to the rest of her senses, far more so than she had ever been in her life.

The sounds of snapping branches and grass crunching against their feet eventually slowed and stopped completely. That's when the feeling of confinement went away. The moon became visible once more. They had finally exited the forest and were somewhere open, maybe even back on the path originally taken to get here.

"Stop." The man in armor ordered suddenly. "Don't move."

Not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble, she did as she was told and halted. Something in the air felt heavy. It could be her state of mind, but her gut was telling her that something was about to happen. She took a breath in, then held it. It was the only way that she could silence herself and keep some measure of poise.

"Relax." The Master Chief spoke to her quietly. "You're no good to me if you're not calm."

"Sorry, chief." Ruby muttered, then exhaled slowly. "Relax."

He made it sound so easy and to his credit, he made it look easy. If only she could actually see a face instead of a visor. That might allow her to get a better read on what he was really feeling.

Then all of a sudden, a strident animalistic cry boomed and judging by the intensity of it, the source was close.

"Movement right!" The armored giant called out. "Nine o'clock! Fifty meters!"

Ruby barely had enough time to process this information as she felt the ground shake beneath her feet. That's when she looked into black and saw two red dots and some red lines heading towards them and they only got bigger as it got closer.

"Dodge!" Chief urged.

He sideskirted to the left and she did the same only half a second later. Something came through the space they had just been standing not even three seconds ago.

Another thundering growl was emitted. The Chief was able to shine his lights at their newest contact.

"M-m-megoliath!" Ruby cried out.

"Weaknesses?" He questioned.

"I-I don't know!" Ruby huddled closer to him. "I've never seen one let alone fought one!"

He fired his rifle at the towering elephant-like Grimm, but the shots had little effect on the bone plating. Sensing that its enemies weren't able to damage it in a significant way, the four-legged beast began another charge. The two of them once again took evasive action, but this time, the two of them split off in opposite directions.

"Regroup on me!" The Master Chief called out to her. "Follow my lights!"

"Okay!" Ruby acknowledged.

Training her eyes on the set of lights flashing nearby, she used a bit of her semblance to promptly return to his side. Thankfully, she had trained to use her aura and semblances to the point that she could use them almost as easily as breathing. A few days without heavy use hadn't diminished her abilities.

Ruby looked up at him. "What now?"

When he didn't relay any instructions immediately, she studied his helmeted head. She could see him looking around with slight turns and twists. It looked like he was figuring out what was going on relative to their position.

Now really wasn't a good time to be questioning the one man that she was staking her life on, but she was getting a bit antsy.

"Chief?" Ruby tried again.

After she uttered that single word, he powered off his helmet lights and she could see his outline as he crouched down. Instinctively, she followed his example, not really knowing what he was doing. A few seconds after both of them got into a crouched posture, the Megoliath appeared to have lost sight of them. It was within their general area, but now wandering around in a sort of aimless state.

"We need to expose its underside." He finally said something. "That's its weak point."

Ruby blinked. "How do you know that?"

"I managed to see enough of it to figure out the most likely place where its weakness is." He kept his voice to a whisper. "This thing doesn't appear to have many options for offensive action other than using its own body to crush enemies and charging full force. That would explain the protection to the front. That means that its weak point needs to be somewhere its target isn't likely to get at."

"But how do we get it to expose its own belly?" Ruby's whisper contained a lot of worry. "I don't think we have the strength to pull it off."

"We won't need brute force to do this." The Master Chief quietly. "All we need is one chance to get under it."

"...I'm guessing you have a plan?" Ruby hazarded a guess.

"Naturally." Even with the dim moonlight, she saw him place his rifle on his back. "But we need more time."

"...what can I do?" Ruby fell back on her trust in him.

"I take it you can't see that well?" The giant assessed.

"No." She replied.

"Then I'm going to be telling you how to move." His golden visor reflected some of the moon's light. "But this time, I won't be nearby. You'll need to be mindful of your surroundings to the best of your ability. If all fails, do whatever it takes to survive."

"Yes, sir!" Ruby nodded. "So what do I do?"

"First, stand up." He began. "Then face ninety degrees to your left."

Ruby did as she was told.

"Walk forward for a minute and then stop." His voice quickened with the sound of the Megoliath. "Use the magnum to get that thing's attention and that's all you need to do. I'll handle the rest."

Ruby did well to hide her timidity as she proceeded.

Internally, she had many doubts about this entire plan, but when he spoke what he said with the calm and collected tone that he never once stopped using, she couldn't help but think that he was going to make it work somehow. It was nothing more than a baseless assumption, but it was so damn easy to be sucked in by it considering she was sorely lacking in any sort of self-hope.

Ruby began walking into the dark, turning up her alertness to eleven. With every step that she took, her heartbeat hammered more in her chest. She had never been so skittish in all of her life. This kind of loneliness felt starkly offbeat from the times that she was used to hunting Grimm solo. She may as well be at the mercy of everything and everyone.

The only comforting presence was the pistol held in her hand. Its weight was hefty and its metal against her skin were rough to the touch, nothing that would traditionally be associated with the feeling of comfort.

But it was all she had now.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2209 Hours**

John watched as Ruby took some more steps into the night. At the same time, he was systematically keeping watch over the mammoth-like Grimm that was rambling nearby, trying to find them.

After replaying what this entire encounter had entailed so far, he had come to an unpleasant conclusion: neither the MA5D nor the M6D had sufficient firepower to kill the beast. That meant either they would have to retreat or they would have to find another way to eliminate this thing.

The first option was out of the question because with the village now vulnerable, leaving it would no doubt invite it to flatten the homes of the many people that lived there and there were no doubt people still inside. In any scenario, it was a disaster waiting to happen, so option one was out of the question.

The second option to kill was easier said than done. Without a proper weapon to deal with it, they were spinning their wheels in some deep mud. The only reason that this option was even up for consideration was for one reason: the ability to summon weapons.

In any typical combat engagement, the Master Chief would have shaken his head at the thoughts going through his mind. Here was in the middle of an engagement and he was banking everything on an ability that he had only used once, an ability that he used in his dream, not in reality. The absurdity of it was staggering.

And it was their only chance.

The super soldier counted twenty seconds since Ruby started walking. He needed to hurry and do what he was supposed to do.

Standing up to his full height, he forced his breathing to become level while closing his eyes. As his mental processes slowed down, he felt time itself begin to slow for him. He began to reach deep into himself. Everything he knew about combat, fighting, strategy, tactics, weapons, all of it came forward, but he sifted through it all with cold efficiency.

He was looking for a very specific piece of equipment, the most powerful man-portable weapon that the UNSC had ever deployed. He knew its shape, size, weight, and capabilities and he knew that if there was one weapon he could count on to bring down even the most resilient enemies, it would be this one.

Spartan 117 brought forward every single detail that he could about what he needed. The length was 120 centimeters. The width was 20 centimeters. The height was 39 centimeters. It weighed 19.07 kilograms empty and 20.4 kilograms loaded. For ammunition, it utilized a Series 6971 battery cell. When the trigger was first pulled, it would emit a targeting laser. The actual laser that would inflict lethal damage would result after three seconds of holding the trigger and the result would be several lasers made to look like one single laser. The weapon could be fired four times before it was depleted.

As he methodically ran through the details, he could see the weapon forming in his mind. It was almost like he was actually seeing the weapon firsthand.

Twenty more seconds ticked off his clock.

He then recalled the many uses of the weapon he had personally partaken in. He knew exactly what type of damage it did to individual enemy personnel and to vehicles. It was unmatched in terms of raw destructive power. When taken to its Nth degree, it could turn the tide of battle very quickly, taking out any single individual enemy and cutting through the toughest vehicles.

Ten seconds.

John felt a weight in his hands, something that he had not felt before. He opened his eyes and in his right hand, he found himself holding the weapon that he needed.

It was an Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Galilean Nonlinear Rifle.

Or as many UNSC personnel knew it as, the Spartan Laser.

Five seconds left.

The Master Chief got down to one knee and dedicated all of his attention to the Megoliath, which was now heading back in the general direction of its two human enemies. It looked like it had picked up some telltale signs of where they were and it was moving accordingly. He didn't aim the weapon at the thing, simply observed its movements.

Time was up.

Ruby had ceased walking and now was firing the M6D. It immediately grabbed the attention of the Grimm and it once again began its charge, this time much faster than any time before. It saw that she was alone and was likely looking to capitalize on the opportunity that resembled a divide and conquer situation.

That was not going to happen.

The man in MJOLNIR began sprinting forward, briskly covering the distance that the teenage girl had covered in a fraction of the time. His boots thudded heavily against the ground, his grip on the Spartan Laser tightening.

Everything was going to work out.

He would make it work.

The spartan stepped directly in front of Ruby, who squealed at the abrupt appearance. Just seconds before the Megoliath could send its foot crashing down on the two of them, he activated his hardlight shield, using it as a surface against the colossal weight he was dealing with.

For a few moments, it was a battle of strength and the first time in a long time, John felt his strength being tested acutely. Every single muscle in his body screamed as he put everything into not being overpowered. The weight of this Grimm combined with its leg strength was simply immeasurable to him.

But he couldn't afford to lose now.

He needed to put even more into it.

Winning was all that mattered.

The Chief pulled the trigger on the Spartan Laser, hearing it begin to charge up.

Three seconds.

He forced his body past the limits, pushing the foot of the Megoliath back, causing it to rear up at the unexpected push back.

Two seconds.

The hardlight shield deactivated and the Spartan Laser was aimed precisely.

One second.

The Grimm was starting to stabilize its footing, but it was too late.

Zero seconds.

A blood-red torrent of light discharged from the weapon, effectively burning a hole through the stomach of the mammoth-resembling beast. The laser exited out of its back and flew into the sky.

A guttural howl of pain echoed for all to hear, and then it ceased to be. It was now nothing more than deadweight about to slam into the ground.

"Get back!" The war veteran called out.

Backing up, the two of them were just barely able to avoid being trapped underneath the hulking mass, but even if they were, it wouldn't have lasted long. Expectedly, the Grimm dissolved into black dust that was scattered into the night.

It was over.

They had won.

One more time, John checked his motion tracker and looked all around. From the look of things, that was the last enemy contact. For now, they were in the clear.

This fight, it had been another reminder that likely, there were more powerful species of Grimm out there just waiting. If things like ancient and extinct creatures could be made into abominations, then there was nothing saying that even mythological creatures were exempt from being made into monsters.

He would need to prepare himself accordingly to face those threats when they came because they would come. He didn't know when, where, how, what, or why, but they would come, there was no mistake about that.

The Master Chief looked down at Ruby, who was on her knees, looking exhausted. She was drained physically and mentally. He had expected quite a bit out of her and despite her less than stellar performance overall, she had pulled through. She had found the inner strength to push past her terror.

He could respect that, even admire it.

"Are you injured?" Spartan 117 kneeled down.

"No, I'm okay." Ruby heaved a sigh. "I'm just… tired."

Looking her up and down, he could say with certainty that she looked fine physically speaking aside from her exhaustion. That was good; she was lucky this time around.

John placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. Her eyes had a look that suggested that she was focused entirely on him. That expression compelled him to say the right words to her, but he wasn't sure what could be considered the right thing to say given the situation.

So he fell back on something that he was familiar with.

"Well done, soldier."

He took note of how her eyes as they widened marginally. This was yet another familiar face that he had seen many times in the new soldiers and marines that fought with him. Many times, he was made aware that he was humanity's hero. As Johnson had once said, folks needed their heros, but the man in armor never once saw himself as anything but as a man doing the job he was made to do: be the sword and shield of humanity.

"Let's make sure that the villagers are secure." The Master Chief stood up and gazed at the location of the village. "We'll sweep for any stragglers and kill any more Grimm that approach."

"Rright!" Ruby got to her feet. "Lead the way."

So he did.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1200 Hours, August 13, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Kingdom of Vale**

Nine days ago, she had set out on another typical exercise to hunt some Grimm and get some training in. She had believed that her skills, while still needing more improvement, were considerable. She possessed a simple but pure viewpoint of how good and evil worked in the world. She believed in her goal of becoming a huntress and saving people all around the world.

Nine days ago, everything changed for her. She had experienced her first encounter with death and with it, the realization of how easily it could have ended. She had been saved by a man in green armor who was as mysterious as he was unyielding in his strength. She came to rely on his combat prowess and his generosity.

Two days ago, she saw with her own eyes what the Grimm were truly capable of doing. She had seen death and pain and suffering like she had never seen before. Villagers who had no reason to be caught up in such a calamity were casualties regardless. Their only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Two days ago, she had done something that was considered one of the worst crimes in society: killing a man and no amount of trying to forget about it would work. That moment was branded into her thoughts and she would live with that for the rest of her life. The world might forget what she did, but she never would.

After everything that had happened to her over the course of a week and some change, she couldn't continue forward on the path that she had originally set for herself. How could she after everything that happened?

But Ruby couldn't just stop moving forward either. As much as she now couldn't see herself become a huntress, she knew that she couldn't just erase years of training and hard work. She just couldn't accept that all that she had done up to this point was for nothing, especially not after her time spent with him.

The Master Chief. He seemed to know what really happened when a person fought. He looked like he had seen so much action. He felt so imposing and overwhelming. He lived and breathed conflict. It wasn't just a part of him. It clearly defined who he was, what he did, what he said, everything about him.

Ruby wasn't sure what questions she needed answering, but she had a feeling that he possessed the means that would allow her to reach an endpoint that she felt could bring her some amount of closure if nothing else.

So it was with a heavy heart that silver-eyed girl grabbed a backpack, tossed in some new clothes that she had bought the other day, grabbed her scroll, collected all the lien to her name, left a letter on the kitchen table for her sister and father, and set out, not even giving her home a final glance.

In regards to her enrollment at Signal Academy, she had sent an official letter stating that she was dropping out with no chance of return. Going to Beacon Academy and becoming a huntress was now a dead dream. If anyone had a problem about it, she wasn't going to be around anyway, so it didn't matter if her decision upset or angered anyone.

She had retrieved Crescent Rose, but she wouldn't be taking it with her this time. It was just another reminder of her failure that she would prefer not to have with her.

Essentially, she was cutting off almost all ties to what she had known all her life. She wasn't ready to look back yet.

Maybe one day, she would, but not now.

And here she was now, standing outside the walls of the Kingdom of Vale. There he stood, just three meters away, still as dangerous and deadly-looking as ever, waiting for her to arrive.

"I will warn you." The Chief said. "This will not be easy. I will intentionally be making your life a living hell."

"I know." Ruby smiled. "But I'll find a way to live with it."

"This will not only change how you fight." He wasn't finished. "This will change how you perceive the world."

"I'm okay with that." She responded in kind. "No, not just okay with it. I need this."

"There will be no turning back." The Master Chief offered her a final chance to back down. "You will not be returning for a long time, maybe not ever."

"I can't go back." Ruby rebutted. "Not after everything I've seen and done. I have to do this not just for the people, but for me."

A few seconds came and went. A visor and a pair of eyes held. It was a test to see just how committed she was and she knew it.

She would not back down.

Her reward was a nod of his helmeted head.

"Very well." He turned his back and began walking. "We have a lot of ground to cover before the sun sets. Move out!"

"Yes, sir!" Ruby sounded off and fell in line beside him.

What would happen in the future, she didn't know, but if there was one thing that was for sure, it wasn't going to be a static journey.

"Here." The Master Chief held his pistol out and offered it to her. "You're no good to me unarmed."

"Thank you." Ruby accepted the weapon graciously.

* * *

**So Ruby decided to join the Master Chief in his journey across Remnant, but who says it's going to be as easy as that? ****There might be an individual who I will not name (but you probably can guess) that won't take Ruby leaving home lying down. **

**If any of you ask what will happen from here on out, I'll ask you to read and find out. After all, isn't that the whole point?**

**I look forward to what comes next and I hope you all do as well because it sure as hell ain't gonna be like it is in the canon, that's for sure. At best, you'll find elements from canon and nothing more.**

**Characterization for Ruby will be the same and different. In a nutshell, she needs to have some of her trademark quirks from the early volumes while I add some new and logical traits. That goes for the Chief too. I think I've said this before, but I want everyone to be reminded that I don't take characterization lightly.**

**Feedback and reviews are appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading.**

_**"Leadership is the capacity to transform vision into**_** reality."**

**Warren Bennis**


	9. OPERATION NAVY BOOT CAMP

**CHAPTER 9: OPERATION NAVY BOOT CAMP**

**0530 Hours, August 14, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

Never in his entire military career did the Master Chief ever think he was going to be taking anyone directly under his wing. He had worked with soldiers and marines over the course of his entire service, but they were all trained professionals and the assumption was that they were ready to follow orders.

But Ruby Rose? She was a civilian with a former aspiration of becoming a huntress. Now, she didn't even aspire to be that. For some reason, she had chosen to stick by his side. This turn of events surprised him internally and even though choosing to take her with him didn't benefit him in any way, he decided to accept her.

Why though?

The more that the spartan thought about it, the less it made sense to him. The only thing that he could consciously understand was that look in the fifteen year old girl's eyes when he had praised her efforts when they had worked together. Something about those eyes spoke to him and when she had requested to go with him, he saw that same look in her eyes. He wouldn't admit it verbally, but his interest in her had piqued.

Now it was time to begin her training.

In order to get her up to par with UNSC Navy standards, he referred to his own time in Spartan-II training. For all intents and purposes, since she was going to be travelling with a spartan, she was going to be trained like one as well. If she was as committed as she claimed to be, then she would have to shed blood, sweat, and tears and then push beyond. If she could survive what he had in store for her, then she would be able to perform at a level much greater than conventional soldiers and marines. She would be closer to special forces material.

Ruby's prior training as a huntress was no longer relevant in his eyes. In fact, everything she ever was no longer mattered to him. He would tear her down and then rebuild her from the ground up, transforming her into the closest thing to a spartan. He would train her the way Mendez had trained him and he would teach her the same way that Doctor Halsey taught him. It was strange to think that all of those years of training would be put to use in the most unexpected of ways.

But that was his life: doing the unexpected without warning.

John had gotten a little bit of sleep, then awoke at 0430 hours. Since then, he recalled whatever he could about his earliest days of Spartan-II boot camp. Every detail he poured over thinking about what he would need to emphasize and prioritize. Since he didn't have the luxury of eight years' time to train his recruit, he would need to condense it and in the spirit of the UNSC branch that he belonged to, he would give himself eight week to turn the teenager into a sailor.

Once he formed his rough game plan and then reviewed it a couple more times, he stood up at his full height and silently walked to where his charge laid on her sleeping bag. She looked peaceful and there was a small smile on her face.

That was going to change right now.

"Wake up, recruit!" The Master Chief found yelling to be awkward, but he still did it. "Now!"

Ruby groggily woke up, but she was slow in response. In response to her non-compliance, the man in armor carefully but intentionally slapped her in the face. His action elicited a more immediate response as she was now wide awake.

"Stand up straight and look down!" Spartan 117 ordered her. "Double time!"

The former huntress in training did as she was instructed, but upon closer inspection, it was clear as day that there were so many things wrong in her posture. That would need to be corrected. Her entire appearance would need to be corrected now that he was getting a closer look at her.

"Look straight!" John ordered his next order. "Eyes forward!"

Ruby did as he said.

"You said you wanted to come with me, learn from me, do what I do. Well, for the next eight weeks, I will be training you to do what I do." The Master Chief lowered his voice, but held an iron-clad tone. "During this time, you will not do anything on your own. I will tell you what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Nothing that I tell you to do is a request, an option, or a suggestion. You will do EXACTLY what I say to the letter or you will be punished accordingly. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Ruby sounded off and unfortunately for her, she did it wrong.

"That is not how you address me!" The super soldier corrected her, still finding yelling like this to be unusual. "My rank is Master Chief Petty Officer! You will either refer to me as Chief or Master Chief! Is that understood?!"

Ruby looked very panicked, but not excessively so. "Yes, Master Chief!"

"We run." Spartan 117 pointed in the direction of a nearby open field. "If you use aura, I will double the calisthenics! Go! Move!"

Understanding that he was not her friend but her superior at this time, Ruby did as she was told and began running. The night sky was just barely starting to give rise to the sun so there was sufficient illumination for them to see where they were going as they ran.

Their destination was an open area where he would force her to do the same exercises that he went through as a child. She needed to learn how to make do without her aura. If she was unprepared to fight without it, then she would be caught off guard if she ever did lose it and that might be what would kill her.

"Down on the ground! Push ups!" John continued to push down his aversion to talk as he normally did. "Two-hundred! One! Two!"

Since it was just her, he could afford to watch her do everything in clear detail and be sure to make minute adjustments whenever necessary. She started off decently, but she tried to do too many pushups too fast. At around fifty, her form began to suffer and she wasn't properly doing the exercise right."

"Fix your form, recruit!" The Chief kneeled down so that his helmeted head could get closer to her. "Hurry up!"

As he continued to monitor her every move, he simultaneously found himself thinking about how hard the first days of training were for himself. He thought about how Mendez had to spend a considerable amount of time disciplining all seventy-five children in the Spartan-II program, not an easy feat when more than a few weren't willing to comply at first. Kelly was chief among the rebels who refused to get with the program.

As for Ruby, she was far from acting like a rebel. So far, she was showing a willingness to follow orders without a second thought. That was a good thing for him. He needed her to be obedient if she was to be useful to him. A military serviceman who couldn't adhere to the chain of command was a liability and a danger.

"Sit-up!" The war veteran switched exercises. "Two hundred! Let's go!"

The girl was exhausted from performing her push ups yet she didn't stop moving, only switching her position so that she was laying on the ground with her arms behind her head and her fingers laced together. The man in armor laid one gauntlet-covered hand on her feet to hold her down.

"Begin!" John commanded her. "One! Two! Three!"

There was already sweat on her face and she was struggling at the situps. This time, she knew better than to try and rush through her reps. She paced herself, but that didn't change the fact that she still had many to go through.

Her breathing started to become more erratic and it was taking her longer to lift herself off from the ground, but she appeared determined not to give up, merely performing each number one after the other and doing whatever it took to get to two-hundred.

"Jumping jack!" The Master Chief stood up. "Move with a purpose, recruit!"

Whether this girl was willing herself to do all of this or if she was merely running on autopilot, he couldn't help but nod once in respect. She wasn't giving up, that much he could see and because he wasn't giving up, he wouldn't give up on her. He could only wait and see just how far she could go. This was only the first few minutes of the first day of training. Everything could all come crashing down tomorrow or some day down the line.

If she couldn't meet his standards, then he would send her back home.

If she could meet his standards, he would gladly call her a sister in arms.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1730 Hours**

Ruby had finally come to the end of the day and she was absolutely wiped. Never in her entire life had she ever done so much physical activity in a single day and that was just for one morning. Certainly, she had trained herself to be physically capable. Wielding a scythe effectively in combat was incredibly difficult and it required a certain amount of finesse and control not to mention endurance and patience. Thus, she had done considerable physical conditioning.

But this was entirely different. She was relentlessly ordered to perform one exercise after another. After the morning calisthenics, she was then given some lessons regarding basic military culture and military doctrine. This included the phonetic alphabet, command structure and rank, and the necessary mannerisms and other small odds and ends that she needed to be aware of at all times. Each thing by itself wasn't much to contend with, but all of them at once was quite a lot and she had to learn and memorize this stuff fast.

The end of the day finally rolled around and the silver-eyed girl collapsed onto the ground. It didn't matter that she was laying on a surface that was probably not comfortable in the least. As far as she was concerned, it was the best place ever because she no longer had to move and she could simply rest for a minute. Then she would eat and go to sleep to get ready for another day of training.

Ruby honestly felt that this entire day was kind of weird. She never thought of the Master Chief as a guy who yelled. She thought he was the sort of man who spoke softly because he knew that he was good at what he did, like he didn't need to be loud because his actions were more than loud enough, but apparently he had it in him to scream at her all day. She could only imagine what was going on inside his helmet all day. She didn't even know what his face looked like, so conjuring up a face was a challenge in of itself.

When the former aspiring huntress tried to move her body to get more comfortable, she was met with instantaneous soreness throughout her entire body, which caused her to groan in pain. Everywhere hurt and the only way she could stop the pain was to not move at all, but she was going to have to move eventually. Her sleeping bag was on the other side of the fire pit. Plus, she wasn't going to eat while lying on her back.

The sound of armor clinking at a swooshing of liquid had her opening her eyelids and staring up at the Chief. He was kneeling at her side and in one hand, he held a water bottle out to her.

"Drink." His voice was back to its usual calm. "Staying hydrated is important, especially for a sailor."

She had to remember that as his rank suggested, he was technically a sailor, not a soldier, so she would become one as well. Considering they were far from any large bodies of water, the term felt inappropriate, but she wasn't the once in charge. She could only accept the bottle of water and take a long sip from it. It was lukewarm, not the cold that she hoped it would be, but her thirst mattered more than his preferential temperature.

"Thank you, Chief." Ruby sounded off, feeling it necessary, even though they weren't training. "This water's so good."

"Don't drink it too fast." The Master Chief informed her. "Be moderate. The same applies with your food."

"Food." Ruby felt her stomach growl. "I could go for some of that."

"As soon as you settle down, I have some ready for you." The Chief told her. "While you eat, I have some questions regarding the use of a scroll."

"Using a scroll?" Ruby raised an eyebrow. "You don't know how to use one, Chief?"

"Not as well as I would like." The man in armor acknowledged. "I've never had to use it seeing as my armor provided me the features I required."

If she was interpreting his words correctly, then it seemed like he was experiencing some problems with his armor and he was having to substitute with a scroll for the time being. That made her do a once-over of his entire form.

As far as she could see it, aside from a dent across the right side of his chest, she didn't spot any marks or any sort of damage that would indicate a malfunction of any kind. It had to be either an internal hardware problem or a software problem.

Ruby decided to take a chance and ask, even knowing her chances were slim. "If you're having trouble with your armor, I can-"

The Master Chief's visor stared back at her. "No."

"You didn't even let me finish!" Ruby protested. "What's the big deal? Maybe I can fix something for you!"

"The answer is still no." The Chief shook his head once. "You can ask me as many times as you like and my answer will remain the same."

Now that kind of made her mad. Here he was working her to the bone today and she couldn't even get so much as a little something to work on for her trouble. She felt cheated, kind of like a parent denying a child candy.

After a minute of pouting, Ruby downshifted. "Okay, okay, I won't ask about your armor again, so what about your scroll do you want to know about?"

"Everything that I can." The Master Chief responded in kind. "All the features that might be useful to our efforts, I would like to know about."

"Okay, then." Ruby struggled to get herself into a sitting position. "Can I see your scroll?"

The man handed her the device in question and she took a good look at the device. It wasn't a particularly flashy model nor was it all that impressive hard-ware wise, but that seemed about right for him.

"Well, if I'm going to be doing all of this exercise, then we could use an app to track our progress." Ruby could feel her entire body dying at her own words. "Maybe you do your own training, you can do your own tracking."

"Understood." The Chief nodded once.

Surprisingly, they were getting a signal, even out here. It was enough for them to be able to go through a crash course of all the basic functionalities of a scroll. The call function, texting, downloading apps, surfing the web, how to use the camera, accessing videos and photos, and a bunch of other things.

The fifteen-year-old girl assumed that her superior would stumble through this course, but he took to her instructions like a fish in the water. It was like he could replicate exactly what she was doing. It made her question if he really was as incapable of using his scroll as he made it sound like initially.

"I think you've got the basics down. "Ruby said. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"No, that's all." The Master Chief.

"Then we're good." She held his scroll out to him. "Here."

"Thanks." He accepted it with a curt response.

Tonight, they would be eating some food that had been foraged and hunted. Apparently, fighting wasn't the only thing that the Chief was good at. Preparing the meal and then eating it was a quiet affair with neither of them talking.

Ruby wanted to talk about something, but she didn't know what would be a good topic to have a conversation about. Actually, that wasn't even the immediate problem; she didn't even know if she could even initiate a conversation to begin with. It wasn't like the Master Chief was all that interested in conversation.

He sat opposite of her, having already disassembled his rifle and was in the process of cleaning it. His fingers moved with much dexterity and practice. Not a single movement appeared wasted or inefficient. With that level of precision, she figured that he must've done this so many times that it had become second nature to him.

She used to do something similar when it came to cleaning Crescent Rose. It gave her peace of mind, allowing her mind to focus on something and forget about all of her worries and troubles, even if only for a short while.

An idea came to mind.

"Chief?" Ruby called to him.

He merely stopped what he was doing and raised his helmeted head. That made her a bit nervous, but it looked like he was listening.

"So… am I going to… you know… get another weapon?" Ruby needed and wanted to know. "I mean, nothing against this pistol, but I feel kind of underequipped."

That golden visor remained still and it still scared her. For a few seconds, the only sounds that could be heard were the wildlife around them and the crackling of the fire.

The Master Chief then resumed his rifle maintenance, but not before he articulated a reply. "That's not your concern right now, recruit. What should concern you is your training."

Ruby frowned.

So not cool.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2245 Hours**

One of the primary disadvantages of being alone without any support from the UNSC was that he had to think up everything that they would both need. Food, water, ammunition, medical supplies, tech, all of these items and a few other things he needed to keep track of. For all intents and purposes, he was the commanding officer in all things.

It wasn't for the first time that John had come to realize exactly how much he relied on the UNSC for almost everything. If he needed MJOLNIR repaired, there would be technicians for that. If he needed a weapon, there was always an armory stocked with the appropriate rifles and ammunition. If he needed food and water, MRE's and liquids would be supplied. The list went on and that's when he remembered that he was alone on this planet.

Without a way to return to UNSC space, he was effectively stranded on an alien planet with nothing but himself and his own skills and experience to carry him as well as a fifteen-year old girl. After all this time, MJOLNIR couldn't establish any connections with anything remotely connected to the UNSC. It didn't help that he possessed no ship of any kind to help widen his range. If only he had some sort of means of boosting his armor's communications gear. It might give him a chance to see if there were any friendly forces within the same solar system. However slim his chances, he needed to be sure.

But whenever the Master Chief considered the possibility of returning to the UNSC, a feeling of emptiness came over him, which made no sense to him. He had dedicated his life to the protection of humanity and her colonies. That was what he was made to do for his entire life; he certainly may not have been given a choice in the matter, but he embraced what he had with all the pride and dignity that he could muster. Now, that same feeling wasn't there, only the overwhelming emptiness he was feeling now.

Why now?

Why at all?

He had no viable answers and that's when he decided that he couldn't be bothered to solve this internal struggle because he had no basis to even begin solving it. All he could do was focus his efforts on what he was capable of doing. Until he could confirm the status of the UNSC within this part of space, his mission still remained: protect humanity as well as train up his recruit, which was a work in progress.

From his sitting position, he noticed Ruby sleeping nearby. Even without a fire to light the night, his vision could make her out clearly. The face that currently adorned her features was peaceful despite what he had put her through today. He estimated that it would take an additional few more days for her to fully accept her new life. The culture shock was probably just beginning to settle in for her.

As for her training, the intent was to condition her body so that she would become less reliant upon aura. Based on what he understood about huntsmen and huntresses, they were reliant upon aura and semblances to carry them throughout a battle. He had seen no evidence to suggest that they did any extensive training without these two tools. That was a problem that needed serious correction and he couldn't come up with any logical reason why this wasn't being addressed more.

But then again, that was also an added benefit to having Ruby here. She would be able to provide him with the information he needed. As she had been receiving training to become a huntress, what she knew would help him better fight such combatants should the time ever come. He was anticipating it, expecting it to happen and he had no intention of losing.

The spartan pulled up his scroll and began to review all of its features and memorize them so that he could instinctually use the device. So far, the operation of it was straightforward. He had come upon no issues while in use and figuring out the specifics for each application was not difficult.

The main problem he had with the scroll was that it was a seperate device from his armor and thus, he would need to actually use it manually instead of simply issuing a voice command from within his helmet. If he could somehow implement the device into MJOLNIR, it would be much more ergonomic to use, but that was a minor concern. What mattered was that it was functional and he could use it.

Putting his scroll away, John loosely held his MA5D. This place was ideal to camp and train primarily because by the look of the terrain, there was a minimal Grimm presence. That was a good thing because he needed sleep as well, but he didn't like the idea of nobody being awake to watch over them. In order to facilitate the demands of sleep and their safety, he set MJOLNIR to alert him of any movement over a certain size. He was able to roughly determine the mass and weight of Grimm and thus, the suit would only trigger an alarm once a certain minimum was met.

There was one more thing he did want to do before he turned in for the night.

Ever since he had used his newfound ability to summon the Spartan Laser currently sitting nearby, he decided that every night, after Ruby was sound asleep, he would practice using the ability. He would have been a fool not to use this gift. It might do more than just solve his armament problem, but before he got his hopes up, he needed to make sure his understanding of it was solid.

The Chief closed his eyes, emptying his mind of all distractions. Tonight, his focus would be strictly on doing what he had done during the battle with the Megoliath. He wanted to see if he could bring another weapon into existence. As for what he wanted, he would opt for something with more precision.

With his target in mind, he began to list off the exact details. The length was 141 centimeters. The width was 26 centimeters. The height was 44 centimeters. It weighed 10.8 kilograms empty and 12.1 kilograms loaded. For ammunition it used M19 102 millimeter high-explosive shaped charge missiles. The weapon was semi-automatic, allowing the firing of two shots in rapid succession. Once the weapon was spent, it's empty barrels could be exchanged for a set of barrels loaded and ready to fire. Some models feature targeting technology, allowing for missiles to lock onto aircraft and vehicles.

The image of the weapon came to his mind in vivid detail.

It was a weapon that saw much use in the Human-Covenant War. Its role was specific and important and it did its job well. It had a history of effectiveness in combat for many decades even before the war.

Spartan 117 felt a heavier weight in his hand and he opened his eyes. Looking down, where there was once his MA5D, there was something else.

An M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle Assault Weapon.

Not only that, but he noticed that he was now carrying three additional tubes on his person. With these, he could most definitely take out large hordes of Grimm or down Alpha types in one shot.

Before he could marvel at his ability further, he realized something. When he had brought forward the rocket launcher, his rifle was gone and now that he was thinking about it, so too was its ammunition. That had to mean something.

Did his power have its own set of rules and limitations?

John shifted the M41 SPNKR, making sure that its safety was on. He really did want to test this thing to make sure of its effectiveness, but any excessive noise would wake Ruby not to mention serve as a beacon for any would-be attackers. He would have to hold off for now.

Back to the matter at hand. He needed to keep on training. He had spent less than a minute going through this. He could afford at least another thirty minutes of practice before he needed to get some sleep.

His head shifted from the Spartan Laser to the rocket launcher. Having two heavy weapons was redundant, so he needed to choose between one of them, but which one was going to be more useful to him?

He ran through all of the situations he had been through so far on this planet. Grimm tended to fight in groups. This made them easy to target in sizable groups, so the rocket launcher was highly beneficial. That being said, there was always going to be that one type that wouldn't go down easily. The Spartan Laser was almost always guaranteed to kill when it hit its target, making it a good weapon for getting out of sticky situations.

What made more sense?

The Master Chief looked back and forth for a second time, and only after another minute of deliberation did he finally settle on a choice.

The M41 SPNKR.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

_Dear Dad and Yang,_

_ You both are probably wondering where I've been for nearly two weeks. Let me start this letter off by saying that I'm alive and healthy, so there's no need to worry about my physically speaking._

_ That being said, things have changed and I don't mean that in any small way. I mean that pretty much everything's changed for me._

_ I always wanted to be a huntress. I think we all know that at this point. I was always in love with the idea of becoming the hero that would swoop in and save everyone and then everyone would be happy. That was my dream as a child and it was my dream when I first picked up a scythe and trained to become a huntress. It was a dream and my hope to be the hero of the world. I would slay all the Grimm and then the world could enjoy true peace. We could all come together and make the world into something greater._

_ That was my dream._

_But now, I've realized just how naive I was thinking like that._

_The world isn't as simple as good and evil. It's not as simple as happiness and sadness. Over the course of nearly two weeks, I've seen things and done things that I've never would've imagined in the past, but then again, I always believed that things would work out and up until this point, that's how I've always lived my life. That was a mistaken belief and I've paid the price for my naivety._

_I can't talk about what's happened. Honestly, I don't want to talk about it because frankly speaking, I don't even know how to work through it myself. It's all so different, so weird, so unusual, unlike anything I've ever experienced in all my life and I wish that it was good, but it's not all good. Actually, none of it was good at all, but it's too late to take it all back and even if I was given the choice to forget about it, I'm not sure I'd want to forget all of it._

_I know what you both are thinking right now. You're both wondering why can't I just talk it over with you two and figure something out. I thought about doing that, I really did, but then I realized something: if I went to the two of you, you would both comfort me and tell me everything was going to be okay, and then we'd all get back to how things always are. It would be like putting on a band-aid to heal a wound._

_But this isn't a wound. It's a scar. Being with you guys, sharing in the love, it would have been a nice feeling and maybe it would've helped the pain a little bit, but it wouldn't change what I've experienced. It wouldn't help me understand why things happened the way they did. It wouldn't help me accept the way things turned out the way they did._

_ That's why I feel like it's time for a change. I'll never be able to go on pursuing my dream of becoming a huntress while living with what I do now. That dream didn't account for the things that I didn't know about. That dream never told me that life is never as black and white as the world wants it to be._

_ Yeah, you read right. I'm not going to become a huntress. I've sent a letter to Signal Academy letting them know that I'm dropping out. I'm sure that you've already heard by this point, dad._

_ But I don't want either of you to get the wrong idea. I still want to do good for people. I still want to do whatever I can for others, but I need to do it in a way that helps me process and digest everything that's been going on and I think that I've found a way that'll let me frame it all in a way that I can learn to live with._

_ Please don't come looking for me. I'm sure you'll both do whatever it takes to bring me home. Maybe you'll even get Uncle Qrow to search for me, but I made this choice and I'll live with whatever comes with it, good or bad._

_ On a side note, I left Crescent Rose in my room. I'm sure that someone saw that. My reasoning for not bringing it with me is simple. I can't look at it the same way. It relates to what happened to me. It's like a physical representation of my old dream and as I've said, I want to distance myself from that._

_ As for where I'm going, I can't tell you guys that either. If I did, you'd come find me and drag me home. That would defeat the whole purpose of me trying to forge my new path. You both don't have to worry about where I'm staying or what I'm doing. I've put a lot of thought into this and I've planned accordingly. All my bases are covered and anything else that comes along, I'll deal with it._

_ I should also add that I'm not going alone. I have a friend with me. If I had to describe our relationship, it's kind of like a master-apprentice sort of thing. He leads and I follow. He'll be teaching me some new stuff about fighting and probably lots of other things along the way. He's also my best chance at helping me get my head together._

_ Before I end this letter, I want to assure you both. I will be dropping out of contact, so don't expect anything in the way of texts or calls, but I will be making one call on the first day of each month starting next month._

_I don't know when I'll see you all again, but I think it will be a while and I'm sorry that you had to hear all this from a letter, but I didn't want to give either of you a chance to make me second-guess my decision._

_I love you both,_

_Sincerely,_

_Ruby Rose_

_P.S. Be sure to take care of Zwei._

* * *

**For future reference, I will be coining a lot of terms and phrases that military actually uses in order to immerse the story in as much realism as possible. The Master Chief is trying to turn Ruby into a sailor. I used the term soldier last chapter, but that's technically not correct. Soldiers refer to those that serve in the army. Since the Chief is a Navy Non-Commissioned Officer, he's should be referred to as a sailor.**

**Ruby's PTSD is something that I'm tackling very carefully as I've never personally experienced anything closer to it. It's going to be challenging to balance between this and developing her personality as well, which includes adding new things while maintaining some old things.**

**As for the Master Chief, he's got his own PTSD to get over too. Actually, his is far worse than Ruby's PTSD by many miles. That's going to be a beast to try and take apart and put back together, but as long as he's alive, he's still a Spartan-II and he still has a duty to the UNSC, regardless if he can reach them or not.**

**On a side note, next month, I have some news regarding my life going forward and how this will most likely affect my ability to write. I can't talk about it right now because there are no concrete details to speak of.**

**Thoughts? Reviews and feedback are most appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading.**

_**"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."**_

**Theodore Roosevelt**


	10. OPERATION INDOCTRINATION

**CHAPTER 10: OPERATION INDOCTRINATION**

**1200 Hours, August 21, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

Ruby quietly ate her food while she mentally went over some things in her head. A week had passed and she was going to be tested on some subjects as well as given a physical test to ensure that she was able to hold her own. Between her physical training and her lessons, these past seven days had flown by rather quickly, something that came as a surprise to her.

The first day, she had absolutely hated her life. She doubted her decision, asked herself why she had done something like this.

The answer to her question came quickly once she thought back to the things that she had been through and the things she had done. She had nearly been killed by Grimm, she had seen bandits destroy an entire village and kill innocent people, and she had killed a man with her own two hands. That last deed in particular continued to replay in her mind when she slept; she could recall it with such vivid detail.

The face of the bandit.

The fire crystal burning in his hand.

The sound of the M6D as it discharged a round.

The fish eyes of the dead man.

The first night with that nightmare, the silver-eyed girl had awoken in a sweat and failed in her attempt to calm herself down. The Master Chief took notice of her then and when he asked her what was wrong, Ruby said that she was reliving the kill.

In response to her. he stated that in her case, she had no reason to feel guilt; she had pulled the trigger because the bandit was intending to kill innocent civilians and the two of them. He told her that killing the bandit was the right thing to do. It was unfortunate that a life had to be ended, but their priority at the end of the day was protecting those that couldn't protect themselves as well as their own lives, plain and simple.

With that being said, the Chief also said that no matter what, killing was wrong, even with regards to what they were doing. No matter the intent of the bandit, he was still a living person, no different than them. No matter what their priorities were, pulling the trigger on anyone meant potentially killing them. The green-armored man reminded Ruby that she should never forget what it meant to kill, no matter what.

This duality had the former aspiring huntress confused. She wanted to get rid of the bad memories, but instead she was being told to never let go of them. It didn't make any sense to her right now. How was she supposed to get better if she kept holding on to that stuff? Wouldn't that just make things counterproductive?

More than anything, Ruby wanted to pursue the topic and question him about why he said what he did, but just like asking about his weapons and armor, the Master Chief wouldn't speak to her any further on the subject, instead telling her that now was not the time. He was focused on training her up, not teaching her about right and wrong.

For now, the past ten minutes had been spent with him quizzing her on random knowledge that she had been learning over the week. So far, she had answered everything correctly and she had no intention of finding out what would happen if she got it wrong.

"Recite the phonetic alphabet." The Master Chief ordered. "Go."

"Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf." Ruby paused to take a quick break. "Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa."

Relearning the alphabet like this had actually been a straightforward task. It wasn't necessarily learning a whole new language. It was more like retooling what she learned as a child into something more codified and specific.

"Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform." Ruby thought for a moment. "Victor, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yankee, Zulu."

"Good." The Chief nodded. "Now the numbers."

"Wun, Too, Tree, Fower, Fife." Ruby still had to get used to a couple pronunciations. "Six, Seven, Ait, Niner, Zeero."

She was expecting more questions, but none came.

"Your knowledge is solid." The helmet nodded once, apparently satisfied that she was absorbing things fast. "You're making progress."

Hearing him say that made her do a double take. Not once this entire week had she even been given a compliment for good work. It was just one thing to the next without pause; it made the fifteen-year old wonder just how cut out she was for this. Hearing something akin to an appraisal of what she had accomplished made her both happy and perplexed.

"Um, thanks." Ruby cautiously accepted his words.

"After we eat, we'll practice marksmanship." The Master Chief looked out towards an open field. "I've set up some targets for us to practice with."

"Oh, okay!" Ruby felt excitement inside, but somewhat restrained the full extent of it for fear that she might get reprimanded. "So… what'll we be using?"

"This." The Chief retrieved a weapon from behind him. "The M392 Designated Marksman Rifle, or DMR for short."

"Yes!" Ruby pumped her fist in the air. "I love marksmanship!"

With a new reason to feel excited, she quickly tore through the rest of her meal before cleaning up her face and swiftly moving to the makeshift shooting range, running to where they would take position rather than using her semblance. As ecstatic as she was to get going, this was still training and she had to remind herself about all the necessary small things to keep in mind like not using her aura or semblances to help her in any physical capacity.

Before she began shooting, she was instructed in basic functionality, the ammunition that it used, how to take it apart to clean it and then reassemble it, and how to hold it for maximum effectiveness. Naturally being a weapon enthusiast and wanting to do her teacher proud, she didn't miss a word that he said.

Once she proved that she was trustworthy enough to handle the weapon, she was directed to the targets. In place of bullseye targets or paper pinup of a person's outline, there were instead carefully-section tree trunks with roughly-marked rings indicating levels of accuracy. They were all scattered anywhere from as close as ten meters to the farthest distance which was 1000 meters.

_How long did it take him to set this all up?_ Ruby couldn't help but wonder. _And when did he set it up. He certainly didn't do it anytime during the day._

Starting from a prone position, the girl with black hair ending in red tips shouldered the weapon and looked down the mounted scope. She was quick to acquire her first target at ten meters out.

"Fire when ready." The Master Chief told her. "You get five shots per target. Make them count."

"Roger that." Ruby sounded off. "First target sighted, 10 meters out, 12 o'clock. Firing."

She fired the first round to test how the kick felt against her body. It was more powerful than she was expecting, but it wasn't unmanageable. More importantly, from where she laying, there appeared to be a hold about halfway to the center of the first target.

"Hit." The Chief affirmed what she saw.

Ruby fired again after a few more seconds. This time, being prepared, she was able to hit closer to the center."

"Hit."

Her third shot hit with a mere centimeter to the center.

"Hit."

The fourth round hit dead on target.

"Hit."

The final shot struck the same place her previous shot did.

"Hit." The man in armor said. "You've clearly spent lots of time practicing."

"Yeah, Crescent Rose and I did lots of target practice together." Ruby nodded her head, smiling sadly at the memories. "I'm just glad that I got something out of all my previous training."

"We're not done here yet." The Master chief pointed. "Next target."

"Copy that." Ruby banished her memories from her mind to rededicate herself here. "Target twenty-five meters out, one o'clock. Firing now."

The rest of the afternoon was spent familiarizing herself with the DMR, learning how best to handle the rifle in her hands, how to reload it faster so that she could engage targets quickly, and the timing for being able to achieve numerous successful killshots without losing accuracy. All the while, she had to keep track of the wind around her, the light that affected how much she could see, and any factor that might affect her bullet trajectory.

Now this was fun for her. If she could, she would love to do nothing but practice with weapons and perfect her technique, but unfortunately her training wasn't just about being an excellent sharpshooter. Tomorrow, it would be right back to her morning physical routine and then some lectures, the stuff that was taught to get through, but necessary for her. Still, no matter how tough things would get, she wasn't about to call it quits now.

Ruby pulled the trigger again, having cycled through all prior targets with ease. Now she was shooting at 800 meters out and she was having to work harder to achieve the ideal kill shot.

A challenge to be sure, but still fun.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**2250 Hours, August 21, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

The Master Chief waited until Ruby was fast asleep before he once again conducted his own training with his ability to summon items. His time spent learning his seemingly magical ability had been productive. He had learned quite a bit regarding how it worked and what were its limitations.

The first rule that he had discovered quickly was that when he summoned a weapon, the given ammunition that came with it would last only for a single day, twenty-four hours. He couldn't summon a different weapon and then resummon the weapon that he desired for more ammunition. If he summoned a BR55 Battle Rifle right now and he needed it for a firefight, then he would have to wait until 0000 hours tomorrow in order to reacquire a full stock of magazines.

The second rule was that he could only have two weapons on his person at a time. When summoning a weapon, the one he was currently holding in his hand would be replaced with the one he was visualizing at the time. The one on his back or nearby his person would remain the same as would its ammunition source. This rule didn't apply to Ruby and the M6D that she carried seeing as it was now her weapon, another small detail that he would remember.

The third rule and the most recently discovered one was that ammunition could be summoned separately from the weapon designated to it, but the previous second rule and its intricacies applied.

Additionally, Spartan 117 had measured the time it took to summon a weapon with MJOLNIR's internal clock. Although varying depending upon what he chose, he could narrow it down to anywhere from three to seven seconds. This was important because in the event that he might run out of ammunition during a firefight, he could fall back on another suitable weapon to use for whatever situation he might find himself in, although he hoped that it wouldn't have to come to that.

The man in green armor chose not to experiment with Covenant or Promethean weapons. He felt that those would be better served as an ace up his sleeve seeing as this world didn't appear to have anything in the way of directed energy weapons. Remnant was heavily reliant upon dust and bullets incorporated the substance to a substantial degree. In short, it was to his advantage to keep some of his armament close to the chest.

Another question in John's mind was whether or not he would be able to summon anything other than weapons like vehicles. Assuming he could, he wondered what sort of effort it would take to make that a reality. At this point, it was safe to say that his being able to form weapons from nowhere had no negative or adverse affects on his physical health, none that he could consciously grasp at any rate. Would summoning a vehicle be the same as summoning a weapon? Would he just need to be able to describe it in as precise detail as he could and it would just come to him?

His choice to refrain from attempting this idea was simple: it wasn't strictly necessary as this time. Once the eight weeks of training with Ruby was done, then he would give it more thought. As important as it was to learn how to endure long marches over vast distances, it would be beneficial if they had a vehicle to help them to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time. It was food for thought.

After he spent about an hour practicing, he then read through his personal notes detailing all the Grimm he had encountered. He wanted to account for each species, how big or small the could be, their combative capabilities, and ways to take them from least effective to most effective. His efforts were helped by his recruit, who provided whatever information she could during their lessons.

Regionally speaking, wild Grimm were known to be more dangerous than those that were closer to the walls of the four kingdoms. That was because with time came age and wisdom, something that many in the wilds had. They would not dare approach civilization unless there was an opening in which severe damage could be done.

It only served to pose more questions in the Master Chief's mind. He couldn't conceive of a reason for these monstrosities to exist beyond being used as expendable, yet powerful tools of war. Then again, the same could be said of the Flood, but unlike the parasite, there was no means of keeping the Grimm in check. As far as he could see, they existed and Mankind was left to fend for itself against a threat that had no clear point of origin.

Even more amazing was that not even huntsmen and huntresses seemed to know what exactly they were fighting. They were only trained in how to dispatch them by combat. This made even less sense than the black and white abominations themselves. Thousands of years of history repeating itself all over again with no end in sight.

It was madness.

If no one else was going to find out why things were this way, then he would have to find out himself and hopefully do something about it. It was a lot better than wandering Remnant endlessly and indirectly feeding into a system that had been perpetuated for as long as this planet's recorded history began.

The spartan checked his clock to see that he had about five hours before he needed to wake up Ruby. He would need at least four hours of sleep in order to function properly. An extra hour of sleep seemed okay. He was finished with what he wanted to get through.

Yet the idea of sleeping any longer than he needed for full operation was something he didn't look forward to. This small but perceptible feeling had been occurring to him every night before he closed his eyes and let dreams into the forefront of his mind. He knew the reason why but he refused to think about it. The more he did, the less he was focused on what was most important here.

John lifted his head up and for a moment, he swore that he could see the very clear and distinct form of her. He wanted to speak her name, call out to her, tell her that he was going to get her back to Halsey and everything would work out, just like it always had. She had once said winning was what he did best.

If that was the case, then why did he feel like he had lost this time?

The man with over thirty years of active duty realized that he had indeed reached out his right arm to an individual that was no longer "alive." This was nothing more than a foolish wish to see a close and trusted friend, but no matter how much he wanted events to turn out a much different way, he didn't deal in delusions and fantasy. He was logical and rational and grounded in the reality that was objective and without bias.

"You're not fooling me." The Master Chief stared down the false image. "You're not her. She's dead and gone."

He felt his grip on the DMR tighten and he felt ready to point it in the direction of the person that looked like one of his most trusted companions. He refused to say her name or acknowledge her in any way.

In response to his blunt and decidedly harsh words, the image adopted an expression of longing and sadness, an expression that he had seen on her face before, but never had it had this much of an impact on him as it did now. For a moment, he forgot that what he was seeing was just something that looked like her. Once he had his moment, he snapped out of it and rose from his tree log seat.

The image disappeared when he blinked, the dark night around him returning in full. There was nothing else worth taking note of. It was just another normal night filled with the occasional breeze of wind and the sound of night time animals.

The Spartan tilted his head down and to his left where Ruby still lay asleep, curled up into a ball. She didn't appear to be having a pleasant time dreaming and it wasn't hard to guess what was keeping her up at night. Her PTSD was still present in her, even as her days were occupied with training. Despite her childish and quirky behavior, she seemed able to separate that part of herself when training, giving her absolute best.

_Imagine that._ John couldn't help but find a similarity that they shared. _In order to hide our pain, we bury ourselves in our work to try and forget._

After taking another minute to study his trainee's visage, he settled back down on the makeshift seat of his, leaning forward and clasping his hands together. He then tilted his downward.

It was time to face his nightmares.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**1300 Hours, August 28, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

With time, Ruby had managed to establish that her physical condition was growing and that she could keep to a strict schedule of cardiovascular endurance coupled with calisthenic exercises meant to increase her strength to help her with the things in the field that would demand she be strong. With that came a new set of responsibilities to take on as well as additional training to tackle.

Two weeks of training and still things could only ramp up from here.

Today, they were going to be doing some surveillance and reconnaissance training. Recently, they had visited a nearby village and accepted a job to take out a nest of particularly annoying pests. By themselves, they weren't much of a threat, but when in a horde, the amount of damage they could do was significant.

They were Lancers.

The Master Chief, as always, took the job without so much as flinching, but Ruby still had her own personal reservations about fighting the Grimm. It had been a little while since she had last been in close proximity to one, but that neither here nor there. They were both going to have to face the monsters sooner or later and she knew better than to issue a complaint to her superior.

Fortunately, they weren't going to merely rush into a nest without first formulating a strategy of some kind, hence their need for reconnaissance. For the vast majority of this morning, they had been doing nothing but remain perched atop a very large hill observing the mouth of a cave which was reported to be where the Lancers gathered in large numbers.

So far, they had only seen a few at a time go in or come out. At most, the largest group they sighted consisted of seven individual contacts. Again, due to the low threat that one of these bugs posed, there wasn't much concern about a potential engagement. Even for a rookie huntsman student, that was manageable.

Ruby didn't realize how tense she had grown until she became aware that her left hand was clenching into a fist and uncurling many times over. She would have never known about it had the Chief not told her and ordered her to calm down, which she managed to do surprisingly quickly. Telling herself to calm down wasn't going to work out, that much she could say for certain, but when it came to following his head, she could do that.

Weird.

While observing the cave, the girl with silver eyes also took note of the distance from their position, which she estimated to be about 400 meters. Also, she drew a meticulously-drawn sketch of the entrance, including all relevant details. It was important that she understand how to do this because if for any reason that her scroll was unavailable to her, she would have something else to use that would be just as effective. It helped that as a weapon enthusiast and having personally made her old weapon Crescent Rose by herself, she had excellent drawing skills. Blueprints and sketching really did come in handy here.

"Four hours." Ruby checked her clock. "We've been observing this cave for four hours, but we haven't spotted anything remotely close to a horde."

"And we might not see anything for the rest of the day." The Master Chief informed her. "But this is definitely where they've gathered."

"How can you tell?" Ruby glanced up at her NCO who was kneeling.

"There are a lot of leaves on the ground surrounding this place." The Chief pointed out to her. "A lot of them are colors that you normally see in the fall, but I am seeing plenty of green leaves scattered too."

"Okay." Ruby took a moment to look around and confirm what he said. "But how does that tell us that a Lancer horde is here?"

"Lancers fly everywhere they go." The Master Chief explained. "When they do, large groups tend to generate a lot of wind and air that affects their environment. There's also the fact that Lancers appear to be more tactical than many of Grimm species."

Ruby blinked. "How… do you know all of that?"

The Chief looked her in the eye before resuming his attention on the cave. "I've been doing my research and making my own judgements. You should too."

That was kind of amazing how he was able to synthesize knowledge like that. She definitely wouldn't have been able to come up with something like that. Now that she gave it more thought, there was also the fact that experience had a part in it. It was known that the Grimm generally mimicked the behaviors and patterns of their animal counterparts. Really, anyone could figure it out, but before all of this, she had preferred getting her hands dirty rather than reading and theorizing.

Ruby shifted her position slightly where she laid prone, ignoring the feeling of soreness against her body. In the past, she would have done everything in her power to be more comfortable, but it was stressed to her numerous times by the Master Chief that she needed to get used to being uncomfortable and even miserable; there could be a time where her endurance was what allowed her to survive what others couldn't. She understood what he was saying, but it was still arduous adjusting.

The former huntress trainee readjusted the rangefinder that she had been given to use. This thing was far more powerful than the ones that she had used during her sniper training. It could see distances of many kilometers. Plus, it had so many different settings that let her see in various ways. Thermal vision, night vision, image magnification, and those were just a few of the settings. It was being able to use this fancy gear that made the grueling training more bearable.

And speaking of equipment, Ruby had to wonder what she would be using once she had completed her training. She was still a long ways off and even after eight weeks, she would be far from done. No doubt she would gain a wealth of knowledge while on the job as well followed by more training. Such was the life that she now led and she was going to be awesome in all of it, otherwise it would be a very awkward conversation with her family.

Although she was far from the relative safety of Patch, she couldn't help but miss it in many ways. Only now was it dawning on her that there were so many memories and comforts there that she had taken for granted. Now, as she fought tooth and nail everyday to become something much different than a huntress, she always wondered what would have happened if things had turned out differently.

Those hypotheticals never lasted any longer than a few moments because she knew exactly what she was getting into when she agreed to become a sailor. Even if the title didn't make sense for her in light of their location, it was the only calling that made sense to her. That was what she thought when she left the comfort of home and she still maintained that viewpoint now. Two weeks into her training and she was still here.

Now she had to survive for six more weeks and gods know how much longer. Whatever may happen, she would have to learn to live her life, good or bad. Nobody was here to hold her hand or provide some sugary words to help her sleep better.

"I've got movement to our two o'clock." The Master Chief reported. "Three lancers, small stature. You see them?"

"Yeah." Ruby sighted them through her viewfinder. "I see them."

"That brings the total number sighted to thirty-nine." The Chief noted out loud. "None of them appear to be carrying anything."

"It's weird that they're not attacking right now." Ruby fell back onto what she knew about the insect-like species. "This is usually their time to…"

Lancers were notorious for being daytime attackers and sightings of them at night were less common, although still possible. Assuming that these ones were returning from an attack, then they had already gotten some prey and they were returning to their territory to rest and regain their strength for another attack.

"They must've found some prey." The Master Chief spoke what she thought. "They're returning from a hunt."

The even tone he always talked in seemed even more flat than was used to hearing. Maybe she was reading too much into it, but she could swear that she heard his inflection change ever-so slightly.

Her eyes returned to her rangefinder and she found her hand shaking the device, causing a clattering noise. She grasped her hand with her free one and steadied herself. Now was not time to be freaking out.

"Chief." Ruby said softly. "Orders?"

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1600 Hours, August 29, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Kingdom of Vale**

Yang Xiao Long had many words to describe how she was feeling right now. Angry, sad, depressed, livid, outraged, annoyed, frustrated, and many more. Some of them might mean the same thing, but she didn't care about that.

What she did care about was that Ruby Rose, her only sister, was gone and not coming home. Two weeks and not a word from the girl. Her letter was looking less like a joke and more like a reality. Even with the proof of Crescent Rose being left at home, the blonde brawler and her father held out hope that it was nothing more than an elaborate joke.

It didn't look like it was.

To make matters worse, it wasn't just Ruby being rebellious or stupid of her own choosing. Some GUY had corrupted her baby sister and convinced her to do something. It made Yang even more angry that she didn't even know the details about what that something was, but she was going to find out, make no mistake about that.

That was easier said than done seeing as her sister had made sure to leave no traces of where she was going. It appeared that she had indeed cut herself off in a way that would prevent any form of contact. She wasn't responding to her scroll, none of their fellow students at Signal Academy nor the faculty could say where the cookie lover had gone, not even Qrow knew where she was and he was good at tracking people.

That just made this kidnapper all the more suspicious in Yang's mind. Ruby had known this guy for less than two weeks before going off with him and to this day barely a month. How could she learn to trust someone so fast?

The buxom girl sighed as she leaned over on Bumblebee, trying to think about where her little sister had gone. The letter left at home had been vague, which gave no indication as to where the little combat skirt wearing squirt had gone. She could be anywhere in the world at this point.

"ARGH!" Yang held her head in her hands. "FUCK!"

Once Ruby was back home, they would be having a very long discussion about how she couldn't go off with people she had known for such a short amount of time. Clearly, those talks about stranger danger did not get through.

A buzzing in her pocket had the blonde girl grabbing her scroll and seeing that she was getting a call from Qrow.

"You got anything?" Yang didn't even bother with a greeting. "Please tell me something, anything."

_"Yeah, I've got something."_ Qrow replied. _"But this comes from an eyewitness, so don't just take my word for it."_

"It's better than nothing." Yang argued. "Spill."

_"There were some wall guards who reported a girl with Ruby's physical description venturing into the wilds with someone in armor."_

"Good, tell me more." Yang pressed. "Who's the guy?! Where did they go?! Did he force her?!"

_"They don't know who the guy was, but it didn't look like Ruby was forced to go."_ Qrow elaborated. _"And they were reported to have been heading southwest."_

It was good enough for a start.

* * *

**I want to start off this author's note with an announcement, one which is familiar to some of my readers. I am enlisting with the United States Army. The details of my enlistment can be found on my profile. Bear in mind that all the information is subject to change due to the Coronavirus pandemic.**

**So back to the story. Training is well underway and Yang has taken the initiative to find Ruby. Will she find her? Who knows? Well, I do because I'm the author, but can any of you guess?**

**Still the emotional distance between the Chief and Ruby is vast. It's got to be that way for a time because for one thing, John does NOT give out trust easily and Ruby is awkward and views her savior as an idol more than anything else at this time, so neither are ready to open up about anything.**

**So what do you guys think? Reviews are always appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope that you're all doing as well as you can given the state of the world.**

_**"Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance."**_

_**Virgil**_


	11. OPERATION HEADCASE

**CHAPTER 11: OPERATION HEADCASE**

**1300 Hours, September 4, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

The Master Chief's original plan to train Ruby Rose into a "sailor" was being tweaked every day several times a day, but that was to be expected. To think that a plan would never go awry was one of the worst assumptions that any military serviceman could have. Things were always changing all around and it was up to the people in service to adapt to those changes because failure to do so could mean more people dying.

Surprisingly enough, the silver-eyed girl had been developing very well physically. She was now capable of keeping up with his regiment, even as it constantly evolved. This was helped by the fact that she had this go-getter attitude and never even considered quitting for a moment. She also followed his orders to the letter and the few failings that she did have were quickly corrected.

In simple terms, she was shaping up to be quite the trooper.

The entire third week of training had been dedicated to marksmanship, a skill that Ruby was gifted in. In fact, based on her shooting style and her accuracy, she could easily qualify as a sniper. In hindsight, this shouldn't have come off as a surprise. She had plenty of time and training under her belt alongside her aptitude. Now it was a matter of honing all of that into the finest point possible and it would be a sharp one to be sure.

The only real trouble that the Spartan could see in her skills was that she wasn't acquainted with the more technical aspects of sniping. Usually, snipers worked with a spotter in order to operate most effectively. There were of course a few exceptions like his fellow Spartan II, Linda-058, but as a Spartan, she was expected to be able to be a spotter and shooter at the same time. While Ruby certainly had the ability to do both, she wasn't quite yet capable of fully articulating the steps necessary to be an effective sniper with the aid of a spotter. That was what he had been practicing with her.

This exercise was also important for her in building team cooperation skills. She might be a leader in this case, but it was important that she understand how to work with others. In this case, a solid amount of trust with a spotter could mean the difference between life and death.

John had been testing her with the DMR for four days. Usually, he would have given much more time to sharpshooting, but for the sake of keeping to his eight-week overall time frame, he decided that she was competent enough as a designated marksman that she could move on to true sniping. He acted as spotter while she did the shooting.

According to her training, she was using the only weapon appropriate for that action: the Sniper Rifle System 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel. The reason that he had chosen this variant of the SRS99 series was due to its superior sights. It was also a weapon that felt real good when in usage and Ruby had taken to it like a fish in water. Of course this applied more to his personal tastes.

There was also the potential issue of having her lug the rifle around. Considering that the sniper rifle was 187.5 centimeters in length and she was 154.94 centimeters in height, carrying it around anonymously was going to be impossible. With a difference of 32.56 centimeters, how this was going to be viable, he was not sure.

The reason that the Master Chief was thinking about this a lot was because after three days of shooting with the SRS99D, he was fairly convinced that the girl was going to serve him best as a sniper. She was so good at using the weapon that she might even be able to rival Linda given enough time, training, and experience. In his eyes, even having a fraction of Spartan 058's overal sniping ability was outstanding.

In the event that they couldn't find a way for her to feasibly carry the SRS99D into battle, then he would have her use the DMR or the BR55, although he had yet to test her with the BR55. Another week would probably be needed for more shooting time. He needed to get a complete picture regarding what her strengths and weaknesses were weapon wise.

This entire process was helped with the fact that Ruby had a keen interest in all things related to weapons. That was a bonus perk; she would have no trouble with maintenance and understanding the internal mechanisms of the weapon that she would be issued once her training was over.

The one thing the Spartan had to be mindful about was what he told her in regards to where he got all of the weapons. Technically speaking, his newfound ability to summon weapons was not in any way classified by either the UNSC or ONI in any way, so revealing its true nature to his recruit would not constitute a security breach or be a violation of any kind. It was something that he had been gifted by a Forerunner and he was developing this gift of his own initiative.

However, if there was one thing that he had learned over the course of his entire service, it was always best to keep one or two tricks up his sleeve in the event that there was an emergency, he could at least have a chance to turn things around in his favor. Winning was the name of the game after all.

But John's reasons for concealing this power from Ruby also came with it a bad taste in his mouth. While he could see the merit in keeping this on a need-to-know basis, a part of him saw it as keeping a secret from a future teammate. There was no doubt that with this girl's mentality that she was going to be by his side wherever he went. She was proving her mettle and she wasn't showing any sign of stopping. Because of his growing assurance in her overall combat effectiveness, he was beginning to trust her more. As such, he felt that to keep her out of the loop in terms of his true capabilities was somehow wrong.

What was the right thing to do?

Did he maintain secrecy as he had been trained to do his whole life?

Or did he trust in the silver-eyed girl and tell her what he knew?

The Master Chief let another second pass before he banished these distracting questions from his mind. It was time to resume training. He would give this more thought when the night settled in.

"Range to target: wun, zero, wun, niner." He looked through his rangefinder.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ruby carefully adjusting the scope in accordance with the distance that he provided her. She performed this task silently while making a minimum amount of noise. Her face was clear and focused; she was dialed in.

The Spartan gave her another piece of information "Wind, moving from west to east, quarter value."

Again, the silver-eyed girl made the necessary adjustments to her scope, doing so without the need to request any further clarification or repeat of the information. A few motion with her left hand and she was ready.

"On scope." John reported.

A few seconds passed and she made some minute adjustments to the weapon, making sure that it was snug against her body, her trigger finger now very slowly moving into position while he heard as she drew in a deep breath

"On target." Ruby softly said while beginning to exhale very slowly.

The Master Chief gave the order. "Fire."

About half a second after he gave her the command, she pulled the trigger and the familiar sound of a 14.5 millimeter high velocity, armor-piercing round exiting the weapon sounded off. It took less than half a second for the bullet to reach its target over a kilometer away. The result was a very dead-looking giant Death Stalker.

"Hit confirmed. Stand by for the second target." Spartan 117 didn't waste time and quickly moved forward. "High-flying, 100 meters up. Do you see it?"

Ruby was quiet for four seconds before replying. "I tally."

"Fire." John said the command again.

Again, the sound of the SRS99 releasing the deadly round reverberated and once again, it took less than half a second for the target in question, a Nevermore, to be struck right in between the eyes and then plummet to the ground.

"Hit confirmed." The Chief nodded his head. "Targets suppressed."

He was the first one to rise from his prone position. She followed suit, carefully brushing off the dirt and dust that had collected on herself. One look at her face and it was clear to see that she was still thinking about the kills.

"How did it feel?" He asked her. "Are there any problems with the equipment?"

"Everything works perfectly, Chief." She didn't look at him. "I was just thinking about how easy that was."

Good.

She was adapting.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**2000 Hours, September 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

Whatever time Ruby wasn't spending doing her training and increasing her knowledge, she spent squaring away her equipment and making sure that she was okay physically. The toughest part of training wasn't over, that much her gut instinct told her. It was only going to get more arduous with time. The Master Chief might have all but stopped barking orders, but he was watching her carefully. Everything she did needed to be done with a purpose.

Right now, she was busy cleaning her disassembled M9D pistol. It was now her weapon and she needed to treat it like it was her best friend, not that properly maintaining her only personal weapon was going to be much trouble. As much as she had tried to distance herself from her life and the parts of herself associated with it, she couldn't help but being a lover of all things weapon-related.

But her enthusiasm was kept to herself. The last thing that the Chief would appreciate was her spontaneously showing bursts of emotions, although now that she thought about it, she was not being yelled at as much. That wasn't to say that she wasn't making mistakes because she still was. It was just that instead of screaming orders to her, her superior was now content to issue stern reminders and warnings that were barely above a loud talking voice. Whatever the case, she wasn't about to push her luck.

Ruby grabbed a small rag coated with lubrication and gently rubbed along the slide. The supplies that weren't weapon-related had been procured thanks to the Grimm extermination that they had been doing. Although they couldn't get rates as high as a professional huntsman could, their sparse living expenses ensured that they had enough. If a purchase didn't serve a functional purpose for their training or their hunts, then they didn't need it.

How the Master Chief was able to procure the weapons he had used for training she had no idea still, but every time she tested out a new toy, her curiosity would grow. However, once she began to focus, even her scatterbrained questioning ceased. She had more than enough fun shooting and having the feeling of something powerful in her hands. It made her encounters with the Grimm a little more easier to bear.

No, she had not gotten over her fear of the monsters, not completely. Even when training with targets over a very long distance, she found her heart rate increasing, her breathing spike in frequency, and she often broke out in a sweat. What brought her back to her sense was when her savior spoke to him. Either that or sometimes, reminding herself of his presence was all that she needed to stow her fear and just shoot.

Ruby still felt that she had a long way to go before she could consider herself to be fully able to handle herself in a situation involving Grimm and every time she felt any sort of hesitation, it was another reminder that she needed to work harder to overcome this problem. They were the enemy and they wouldn't hesitate to kill her if given the chance. She should be ready to respond in kind, otherwise she could get herself killed.

And she still didn't want to die.

The teenager stopped what she was doing to close her eyes, banish her fears, and exhale a breath out, then inhale in, then out again. After two minute passed by, she had normalized her breathing. She wished that it had happened sooner, but she could at least be happy with the fact that she regained control by herself. Once she was calm, her mind began to occupy itself with thoughts of the next few days of training.

With her skill in sniping showing consistent signs of betterment, it was now time for her to learn how to become a sniper not just in marksmanship, but in stealth and reconnaissance. Although she had done some training with the Chief in the latter, the former was new to her. Never before had she ever thought she would ever need to blend into her environment as a sniper. After all, with her semblance and her past of using a scythe, there didn't seem to be a need for being all quiet and motionless.

And in all honesty, it was the stealth part that made Ruby the most anxious. She knew next to nothing about how to be silent while in combat. Her dream of becoming a huntress and a heroine to Remnant demanded that she always present herself to the enemy without a hint of fear. This complete turnaround of how she fought was jarring to say the least, but she would take it one step at a time and eventually adapt it as her new normal.

As she thought about what the days would look like, she had subconsciously resumed cleaning of her weapon. It was one of the most comforting feelings in the world back in her old life and it still was even now. The cool metal against her fingers, the sound of metal against metal as she took apart and put it back together, and the sound of bullets being loaded into a magazine. All of that struck a familiar chord with her.

It almost felt like she was at home.

Then she saw the Master Chief approaching their campsite with an elk carefully held over his shoulder. The effort of carrying the animal looked nearly effortless. He simply walked normally with it. Judging by how clean the body of the dead animal looked, it appeared that the kill was a clean one. The only sign of a struggle was some blood covering the side of his armor where he held the species of deer.

The man quickly set about to begin skinning the animal and begin sectioning off pieces that were edible and parts that they couldn't use for anything else useful. The speed and precision that he was displaying for butchering this kill was very remarkable. He must've done this many times in his life. No matter how many times she witnessed him returning with food, it never ceased to impress her. She certainly wasn't a hunter.

Ruby decided that she wanted to be useful. "Can I help with that, Chief?"

"There's nothing for you to do now." The green-armored giant told her. "But after I drain the blood, I can teach you how to skin it."

Ruby could accept that. "Okay."

By the time that he was done getting all of the blood out of his kill, she was done cleaning up her weapon and reassembling it before doing a dry test fire. Once she completed her tasks, she watched and waited patiently for him.

"If you still wish to help, now's the time." The Master Chief called to her.

"Roger that, Chief." Ruby put down her weapon and leaped to her feet.

She regarded the animal hanging by rope attached to a nearby tree. Aside from blood stains along its neck and chest, it was a clean kill. Strangely enough, the sight didn't really trigger any sort of bad reactions from the girl. She felt a little reservations about doing this, but she did agree to help and it would reflect poorly on her if she backed out now.

Since she was new to all of this, she was slowly guided by him regarding the most efficient and effective methods of skinning, which parts of the animal that could be eaten and which parts were to be discarded. Just like with their training, she followed his instructions to the letter.

"Where did you learn how to hunt, Chief?" Ruby asked suddenly.

A pause occurred before he answered. "I learned alongside my comrades. The skill of hunting game was a self-taught skill that we all learned."

"Ah." Ruby replied lamely. "... wait, we? As in, there are more of you?"

"...there were." The Master Chief responded.

Every time that he changed the way he spoke, she noticed it. Emotional responses from him were few and far in between. She could count the number of times he had expressed any sort of emotions on one hand, so whenever something like this happened, she couldn't help but stare at his helmeted head and wonder what sort of expressions were playing out on his face.

But as much as she wished to know more, she could hear the heaviness in his tone. It sounded like speaking of these comrades of his was quite an undertaking. That meant that this wasn't a discussion that he often had. Maybe the subject was not something he cared to talk about. Bad things must've happened or something along those lines.

Ruby resumed her skinning of the elk. After she finished, she would then be sectioning the pieces of meat and they would be able to cook the pieces they wanted for tonight. Whatever they didn't eat, they would need to dispose of. They would do what they could to leave as few traces of themselves as possible.

The last thing that either of them wanted were unwelcome stalkers.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2000 Hours, September 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

It had been one month since the Master Chief had taken Ruby in. In that timeframe, she had transformed into someone much different than she was prior. The change was so drastic that it almost felt like she was a new person.

However, the Spartan supersoldier knew that just like with any military serviceman who joined the military, she would never be completely rid of her old self. Traces of her former civilian identity still remained despite the grueling training she was undergoing. His choice to not crack down harder on this was partially due to the fact that he demanded that she follow rules and protocol as he saw it, he didn't wish to stomp out her individuality. In fact, it was that individuality that he needed intact.

What he needed from her was more discipline and focus to balance out that individuality. If this was the UNSC and there were many more troopers, a more standard and rigid basic combat training course would be warranted, but out here, he only had himself and her to rely on. Hence, a need for flexibility and imagination was critical to staying alive.

John was applying those very same lessons onto himself as well. Half way into boot camp and he had made so many modifications to his original plan that it was looking nothing like it had when he first started. Most of the training involved with Ruby was practical and applicable in real life. Although he didn't neglect to train her mind and add onto her knowledge, he had learned quickly that his student was at her best when she was made to apply what she knew into a situation or scenario. She retained what she was taught better when she knew that she could actually use what she was learning in a direct way.

Actually, as much as she still acted immature and undisciplined at times, she was incredible at absorbing new ideas. He had never once had a problem with her attention span. She paid attention to everything he said and did her best to mimic him. Her willingness to take in his wisdom was a good thing in his mind. This ability to listen was not the marks of a good follower. They were also the marks of a good leader as well.

Today's plan was to move on to terrain navigation and dealing with various physical obstacles. They had reached the mountain range which served as a natural barrier for the Kingdom of Vale against the Grimm. Working in higher elevations was always tricky regardless of where it took place. Numerous hazards and factors were added to a trooper's list of things to bear in mind while on a mountain.

As they made their final checks, the Master Chief heard something very faint, but that wasn't what set him on alert. They were in a wild environment with plenty of other sounds that were much louder than the noise he had heard. The fact that he was able to clearly distinguish a noise separate from the wild life all around meant one thing.

Someone was coming.

His instincts told him to move out of the way, so the supersoldier did just that, crouching while also shifting three meters to his right. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something fly by him, slicing the air that he was standing in. Spartan Time kicked in and he quickly brandished an MA5D that he kept on hand. Ruby too had drawn her weapon and was pointing it at the target, but as soon as she did, her eyes widened and the M6D was lowered.

Standing some fifteen meters to his eleven o'clock was a girl. She looked young, perhaps a teenager closer to twenty years of age. She had long blonde hair that ended at her hips, two eyes that were a light shade of purple. He estimated her height to be about 173 centimeters, which was significantly shorter than himself, although not in comparison to Ruby. Her stance indicated that she was a fighter of some kind, more used to close quarters combat. She also appeared to be emotionally unstable right now.

"Identify yourself." The Master Chief commanded.

"Like I give two shits about what you want, kidnapper!" The girl was glowing and her stare was venomous. "Now, I'm gonna kick your ass into the dirt! Nobody takes my baby sister from me! Nobody!"

"Yang! What are you doing here?!" Ruby snapped out of her surprise. "How did you find us?!"

"Shut up, Ruby!" The assailant now identified as Yang regarded the girl with silver eyes. "You're in big trouble! Once I'm through killing this guy, we're going home! You've got some explaining to do!"

"What?!" Ruby looked aghast. "I'm not going home. I don't-"

"Yeah, the letter. We know, and we don't care. This asshole right here's responsible, isn't he?! Is this thing even a person?!"

Spartan 117 calmed his nerves. She looked to be the only enemy around and she looked to be the impulsive type that would charge off without a care in the world. That was perfectly fine. He wasn't about to take chances.

"What is your relationship with Ruby Rose?" John questioned.

"We're sisters." Ruby explained, trying to keep calm herself. "Half-sisters. We have the same father. Please, Yang! Stop this! I'm here by choice!"

So they were family by blood and they were close from the look of things. Such a raw display of emotion like this was unfamiliar to him. Even with UNSC Marines, such unrestrained emotional outbursts were uncommon. They tended to keep their anger on a leash in order to unleash it as an effective tool against their enemies. This girl had absolutely no concept of self-control.

It was just rage, nothing more. The blonde launched herself forward. In reaction to this straightforward avenue of attack, the Chief grabbed her fist just as it was about to make contact with his chest and he tossed her back. Yang quickly recovered and charged again, this time keeping her feet planted on the ground. Once she was within striking distance, she began throwing punches at him relentlessly. He chose not to counter her even though she was leaving more than a few openings for him to expose.

One thing that was unexpected about this engagement was that his opponent carried far more strength than her stature would suggest. He could only surmise that this was due to her aura more than anything else. So all he needed to do was drain her aura and her threat level would be much less.

Holding back wasn't in his nature usually, but this girl was human and she was aiming all of her efforts at him specifically. Disabling her would be more than sufficient.

John systematically either dodged, blocked, or absorbed her fists. It looked like she was counting on trying to overwhelm him with sheer force alone, but with the way she was attempting to put him out of commission, she didn't appear to have much strategy other than using her brute force. If only that was enough.

He grabbed both her arms, holding her in a vice grip before rearing his helmeted head and slamming into her head with all the force that he could muster. She became temporarily blinded, which gave him the chance to slam her into the ground, one hand grabbing her neck to keep her down.

"Stand down." The Master Chief warned her. "Now."

"The fuck I will!" The brawler retorted. "ARGH!"

An explosion of energy came out of nowhere to surround Yang and the war veteran instinctively backed away and put some distance from her. He didn't know what that was, but he wasn't about to take chances. The blonde stood up, almost appearing to be on fire, her teeth gritting and her eyes red.

"YANG!" Ruby was now screaming. "STOP THIS!"

The plea was not answered as her sister once again moved in to attack again. There didn't look to be any reasoning with this girl. The only way that they were ever going to end this was to take her down as soon as possible.

"Chief, her semblance converts strikes against her into energy!" Ruby warned him, apparently sensing the atmosphere. "Don't hit her or she'll get stronger!"

"Understood." He acknowledged.

He wasn't quite sure he understood, but Ruby did know Yang better than he did and he would have to trust in her information. If he couldn't make any physical strikes without risking an enemy with even more strength, then he would need to stick to the plan of wearing her down to a point where he could hit back and knock her out.

Yang's fighting style was becoming less organized and more chaotic and frenzied. Her danger level was increasing simply because she was becoming more erratic. Her power output was increasing. He was beginning to make use of his Promethean Hardlight Shield to help him in his defenses.

This gave him an idea. He once more grappled with the brawler before delivering a knee to her side, staggering her for a split second, more than enough time to deliver a kick to her midsection.

It appeared she was weak to kicks.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

Yang was only becoming more frustrated and this only fed her anger. Here she was, finally able to beat the guy that had taken her sister from her and she wasn't able to do a damn thing against him.

He was good, annoyingly good. He was ducking, dodging, weaving, evading, countering, blocking, absorbing, basically any word that meant that she wasn't able to land a hit that made contact with any part of his physical body.

Seriously, who did that? Every guy before this one had always gotten a good beating if they even so much as thought about Ruby the wrong way.

And to make things worse, her baby sister had just spilled the secret to how her semblance worked and her opponent was working to make sure that she couldn't get any more powerful as an indirect result of his actions.

That just made her doubly angry.

She needed to push more, go faster, get stronger, beat this thing into oblivion.

Yang fired Ember Celica, to which the armored giant responded with that oversized blue shield. Her shots were deflected away from her. She kept firing and she was met with the same result. Three of her shots were reflected back at her. One she managed to barely escape from, but the other two returned back to Ember Celica. Making it even worse, they were fire rounds and once they made contact with her weapons, the temperature was enough to heat the metal of the barrels in a way that warped them. Now she couldn't even fire.

Yang whipped her hands to her destroyed weapons, then back to him.

How dare he.

HOW. DARE. HE.

Then she noticed something that she hadn't spotted before. A small strand of her blonde hair floating in the air, right in the middle of her field of vision. She watched the single piece of hair fall to the ground.

That was the last straw for Yang. "BASTARD! FUCKING DIE!"

She drew upon her aura to the fullest extent and put everything she had into her legs, giving herself a boost in speed that she normally didn't have. This combined with her now overloaded strength had to be enough.

Only her punch never landed.

Out of the corner of her vision, she saw something red entering her field of view, but before her mind could even process what exactly she was seeing, she felt something slamming into the side of her head, kind of like a fist delivering a right hook.

All that Yang knew for sure was that it hurt and she was knocked off course and she slammed into a nearby tree, causing it to fall over from the kinetic energy. Once the brawler checked to make sure she was in one piece.

"Don't get up." That was Ruby's voice, but it sounded so grave.

Yang whipped her head up, her anger dissipating. "Ruby?"

When her eyes regained focus, the elder sister looked up. There she was, the same black hair with red tips, the same silver eyes, the same cute face, all of that was the same, but there was something much different that made even those familiar features appear so alien.

That hardened look on her face.

Did her baby sister just hit her?

"I told you to stay home. I said I chose this path." Ruby's voice was quiet, yet it was so full of fury. "Why didn't you respect my wishes? Why did you come to find me when I didn't want to be found?"

"Ruby, you're my sister. I love you. I was worried about you." Yang began to rise to her feet, struggling to reason. "You're just a kid. You shouldn't be-"

This time, the blonde saw the fist coming, but she still wasn't fast enough to do anything but take it. The impact was enough to send her back to the ground, her head resting just two inches above the three that she had knocked down moments ago.

Her baby sister had just hit her.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Ruby screeched. "IF YOU LOVED ME, YOU WOULD HAVE RESPECTED MY WISHES!"

Never before had this ever happened before. There was nothing for comparison in the past. Every single argument between the two siblings was often childish and occurred for the most petty of reasons. Some of their more serious fights had ended on bad terms, but nothing that wasn't eventually forgiven.

Now though? This was so out of the ordinary, so unexpected that it shocked the brawler. Her mind was simply unable to comprehend what she was dealing with.

But still Yang tried. "Ruby, come on, you're not in the right state of-"

"Get out of here." Ruby's voice resumed a low tone.

"Huh?" Yang didn't believe she heard right. "What did-"

"You heard me, Yang." Ruby pointed away from their current location. "Get out of here. I don't want to see you."

What in the gods' name was this? What had happened to Ruby? Why was she acting like this?

"Ruby-"

"I SAID LEAVE!" Ruby shouted. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU!"

What was the proper way to handle this? Was there even a way that this all could end with everything returning to normal?

"...no." Yang shook her head.

She wasn't about to let her sister slip out of her hands. She was family and family was the most important thing in the world. Nothing would ever get between them, not if she could help it. She couldn't give up now.

Yang witnessed a myriad of emotions flicker over Ruby's face. Bitterness, anguish, and maybe a bit of doubt, but the fifteen year old made no move to help her sister up or offer her any kind words. Then, the younger teenager closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, exhaled it, then opened her eyes.

That hardened look again. It was frightening.

"Chief, orders?" Ruby turned her head to the third presence.

The golden visor merely regarded them both. "Make sure that she can't follow us."

Ruby nodded. "Roger that, Master Chief."

The way that she took commands from him without hesitation was so out of the ordinary as well. It wasn't that her little sister wasn't respectful of authority figures, but Yang never recalled seeing Ruby act like this.

Silver eyes met lilac ones.

A tense silence between the two of them.

"Don't do this." Yang begged. "Please don't leave us. Don't leave me."

"Too late." Ruby shook her head. "It's already too late."

With that, the younger girl reached into the pocket of her elder sister and retrieved a scroll. The elder grasped the wrist of the younger.

"Let. Go." Ruby seethed.

"I'm not going anywhere." Yang repeated herself. "If you want me to let go, you're going to have to make me."

The brawler expected the former scythe-wielder to hesitate or reconsider, but that was a dashed hope. The former reached to her side and retrieved a large pistol from her side. There was not even a moment of doubt as the black-haired sister used the butt of the weapon to slam it into the side of the blonde's head.

Either Ruby had gotten stronger or she was out of aura because Yang felt the world spin before she faded to black.

Why did this happen?

* * *

**I managed to get this chapter in on time. I wasn't sure that I would be able to considering my schedule this week.**

**A small update concerning my enlistment. To make it short, I went through MEPS, got through it with no trouble, and I signed the dotted line and swore in. So yeah, I guess you could say that I'm getting a little bit closer to becoming a real life Master Chief, but I'm not an official US Army Soldier until I graduate from BCT. That said, I have be mindful about how I conduct myself now that I've signed a contract with the government.**

**Now back to the story. Yang finally shows up and quite abruptly at that, but her role in the story is far from over. I mean, considering her busted gear and her current state, she ain't exactly in shape to go back to Vale.**

**Ruby's characterization here was tricky because as much as she's dealing with trauma, she still values the people she calls family. Plus, there's also the changes that's she gone through to consider. The result is this chapter and I believe this makes sense within the context of this story.**

**As for the Chief, he has no idea how conflicts between family occurs. I don't think there's even been an instance where he's gotten into a real fight between his fellow Spartan II's, so this is all new to him, the idea that fights are inevitable between people who are different, even if those people are family.**

**That's all I can say about this chapter. Feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing as well as you can in these tough times.**

_**"Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance."**_

**Calvin Coolidge**


	12. OPERATION QUESTIONABLE LOYALTIES

**CHAPTER 12: OPERATION QUESTIONABLE LOYALTIES**

** 1200 Hours, September 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

The Master Chief expected to be faced with many difficulties during his time on Remnant. With no UNSC military forces anywhere on this planet or in orbit and no form of long-range communication, he was on his own. With all of his knowledge and training and experience, he was trying to turn a fifteen-year-old girl into a worthy UNSC Navy personnel. Without any reinforcements, both himself and his protege were left to their own devices combating the Grimm. Those were the three primary problems that he was currently contending with, all of them he was prepared to deal with.

What the spartan was not prepared to deal with was the persistent problem child that was named Yang Xiao Long. Apparently knocking her out and putting some distance between themselves and her wasn't enough of a deterrent. A little over twenty-two hours after the first encounter, the blonde girl made contact again in an attempt to retrieve Ruby. Once again, the girl with silver eyes denied her sister. Because the older was reluctant to physically hurt the younger, it was easy for the trainee to use physical violence to once again subdue her.

But even after the second takedown and securing of Xiao Long, she once again found them the next day. The third time, Ruby combined her efforts with John in order to subdue the unwanted tag along. That should have been the end of it. Three times with the same problem was two too many.

It didn't work. Every day for the past week, it became expected for the blonde to catch up to them. Her presence was expected and eventually, by the fifth day, any efforts to contain her seemed pointless. How she was able to break her bonds and follow them neither the Chief nor his plus one knew. In a way, it was impressive that Xiao Long had managed to do all this time and time again. In any other situation, he would be somewhat impressed.

Nevertheless, these interruptions were a distraction that needed to be dealt with here and now, otherwise recruit training couldn't be completed in a timely and professional manner.

But in all honesty, Spartan 117 had no idea how best to handle a situation surrounded with highly charged emotions regarding family. The closest he had to a family were his fellow spartans and in many ways, he viewed Mendez and Halsey as his father and mother figures respectively. However, to say that it was a normal family would be a lie. Even with his memories of his old life now little more than a cloudy image, he knew that his entire life since the age of six was not normal.

Now that John was seeing a family interacting in a fashion that was no doubt common for civilians, he couldn't quite comprehend how it was that anything productive could be achieved with such counterproductive emotions on display. It went against everything he had been taught about discipline and maintaining control.

And he was once again witnessing it.

"How many times do I have to say it, Yang?" Ruby sat on a log, paying attention only to the SRS99 that she was cleaning. "I'm not going back."

"You've said it a billion times! I know!" Yang growled in response. "But you haven't given me a reason why!"

"And I won't tell you because I don't want to." Ruby's more tempered words at least helped to partially de-escalate the conversation. "It's that simple. I don't care if you like it or not."

"So what, you're just going to ignore us for the rest of your life, ignore me?!" Yang remained angered. "You know you can't do that!"

"I can and I am." Ruby reached for a piece of the barrel, still refusing to make eye contact. "And you can't stop me."

It was clear that nobody was willing to relent on what they believed. The two girls would continue on this endless debate with no clear solution in sight. The only reason that the Master Chief was allowing this to happen at all was because they were on a lunch break. Also, he wanted to see how his trainee would handle this situation.

While the spartan was impressed with the level of control that Ruby was exerting, he was unimpressed by this unwillingness to cooperate in any way, shape, or form with Yang. He wasn't invested in their relationship personally. It was more a matter of the younger refusing to even consider the elder's side. Of course, that sentiment could only be effective if it went both ways, which it certainly wasn't.

John almost felt like cutting this talk short, but due to failed efforts of containing the blonde girl, a new method needed to be used. He wasn't holding his breath when it came to what was happening now, but maybe he would be surprised.

Silence reigned for ten seconds before Yang began again. "Are we really not that trustworthy?! Is this dude that much better than us?! That gods damned robot?!"

"It's Master Chief Petty Officer." Ruby corrected promptly, locking eyes with her sister for the first time with a glare. "And he's human."

Xiao Long regarded him with a very hostile look, to which the spartan merely stood at attention, his MA5D held loosely in his hand pointed at the ground and his finger off the trigger. He didn't want to project himself as a threat, but he wanted her to make sure that she knew what would happen if she chose to get violent. The message got across to her as he remained unmoving save for the occasional shift in his rifle.

"Yeah, somehow this hunk of junk is better than your flesh and blood family." Yang snarked, returning her gaze to her sibling. "How nice of you to choose that thing over us."

"Yang, you will address him as either Master Chief Petty Officer or Master Chief." Ruby once again contradicted her opposite's words. "Or I swear to the gods I will deck you."

"Amazing." Yang laughed bitterly. "You really are brainwashed."

"Then I willingly chose to be brainwashed." Ruby didn't deny it. "We all have choices to make. I made mine."

Although the movement was very subtle, the spartan nodded his head lightly in approval. It would seem that his protege was gaining a little more confidence in herself. She was willing to stick by the decision she had made. All of her decisions she embraced and she would not blame anyone for her own mistakes. It would seem that her trustworthiness had grown, something that felt a bit of pride at.

"Do you even hear yourself, Ruby?!" Yang wasn't at all enthusiastic. "Have you lost your gods damned mind?!"

"Maybe I have." Ruby seemed content to sound indifferent. "If you want the full story, you'll have to get me drunk and regulations state that alcoholic beverages of any kind are prohibited during training not to mention that I hate the taste of booze."

Although the amount of words seemed unnecessary, the point was made. The silver-eyed girl would not be telling her secrets anytime soon and she wasn't about to budge on the matter no matter how much she was asked.

"Fine! Be that way!" Yang took a seat within a meter of her sister. "I'll stay here with you guys!"

"Oh, so my RTC is actually a person now?" Ruby still continued to focus on her work while lightly barking back. "You're getting better."

"Watch that smartass mouth, sister." Yang narrowed her eyes. "I can't force you to come home, but I sure as hell can make your training harder. I might as well crash your training party because it's screwed your head up."

Ruby merely gave a sidelong glance of mute annoyance.

John was usually never one to become impatient or frustrated, but Xiao Long was beginning to grate on his nerves. It seemed that she had no concept of what was going on here or why this was even happening. She seemed only content to view events from a narrow and extremely biased perspective.

"You will not interfere." The Master Chief declared resolutely. "Ruby will finish her training without or without your interference."

"Is that a threat?" Yang's eyes switched from lilac to red every time she blinked.

"No, merely a statement of fact." Spartan 117 did not relent. "One way or another, my recruit will complete her training. Unless you intend to join us, then your presence here is unnecessary."

"Like you know anything about our family." Yang sneered. "What the hell do you even know about Ruby?!"

"Recruit, once you are finished cleaning your rifle, return to the range." John soundly chose to ignore the blonde girl. "You have ten mikes. Step to it."

"Aye, Master Chief." Ruby's response was automatic. "I'll step off in five."

Engaging in a conflict, physical or otherwise, with Yang Xiao Long was a complete and utter waste of time. He and the girl with black hair ending in red tips had much more to do.

Perhaps intentionally overlooking their unwelcome guest was for the best.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**1600 Hours**

Orders were to be obeyed. That was how it worked during this phase. The whole point of testing her ability to follow instructions was to ensure that she could be a capable team player. At least, that's how Ruby was interpreting the eight weeks of her life that was training.

But it wasn't hard to believe that in any branch of any military in any kingdom, this was the norm. After all, people that couldn't work together were liable to get killed in actual combat. That's what the Master Chief had said anyway and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that he was correct.

Relating his words back to her near-death experience, Ruby could see clear as day that without his help, she would have died at the paws of the Grimm and with each passing day, she came to view her old dream of being a lone heroine who saved everyone as nothing more than sheer stupidity. Where did she get the arrogant notion in her head that she was capable of saving the world alone? Had she always been so naive as to think that she could solve a millenia-old problem by herself? Were other kids her age like this?

Whatever the case, the silver-eyed girl could only regard her old self with lots of cynicism, especially when her older sister refused to let up on bringing her back home and trying to bring out the past version of herself. Yang made it sound like returning to her old self would be a walk in the park. If only it were that simple and even if it was, the fifteen-year old would probably choose to continue down the path she was currently on.

In the end, Ruby couldn't think of anything else to dissuade her elder sibling from trying to convince her to go back home. The Chief picked up on this as well and he had ordered her to proceed with training regardless. If they had to, they would ignore any and all interruptions unless they directly infringed upon what they were doing. That was enough for the trainee.

But it was to their advantage to perform training that depicted less tortious acts. Target practice on the makeshift range was just that. With her SRS99D, the former aspiring huntress carefully laid prone and shoulder the heavy sniper rifle into her shoulder. Once she was comfortable, she began making necessary adjustments to her scope. She was now training without the help of the Master Chief as a spotter so she needed to make sure that all of her calculations were spot-on the first time.

Once done with this task, Ruby carefully began to monitor her breathing. This was a part of shooting that she had never given much thought to in her previous shooting training, but once she learned and implemented proper breathing techniques, she was amazed at just how much of a difference she saw in her accuracy. At the rate she was going, she was hitting her intended target nine times out of ten and the tenth shot was a misfire.

The girl of fifteen years took her first shot. The round travelled a kilometer before striking her target, which was a makeshift dummy made of some tree branches. The empty shell was swiftly ejected following the shot. The next three shots also struck their targets dead on with only mere centimeters between each shot. Once the magazine was empty, she quickly reloaded, a feat that she had been practicing in order to commit the action into her muscle memory. Her best record was two seconds flat so far.

Once her fresh mag was inserted and her next shot in the chamber ready to fire, she set her sights on the next target. Because she was proving herself as a capable marksman, sniper training was made increasingly harder. The Chief was having her shoot farther out than a kilometer. Occasionally, he would throw in some moving obstacles. Apparently, he wasn't just capable of getting weapons from seemingly nowhere. Now he could summon drones of unknown design as well.

Even if she was learning and applying discipline every day, her engineering side couldn't help but marvel at all of it still. It was just too bad that she couldn't yet ask for the details. Maybe one training was done, she could get more details.

Ruby adjusted the rifle stock against her shoulder and zeroed in on the target 1500 meters out. It was positioned on a hill that was inclined to the northeast. She made the necessary calculations in windage and accounted for the elevation of the target. She felt some sweat trickling down her face, but the sensation only distracted her for a moment before she controlled her breathings.

She pulled the trigger, waiting a couple seconds before the round hit its mark. She waited another second to look down her scope to confirm her hit before firing the remaining three rounds in rapid succession, each one nearly overlapping the other on impact. Releasing her breath and breathing normally, she surveyed her handiwork.

"Nice." Ruby let a small smile grace her features for a moment before she became serious again. "Now it's go time."

Two kilometers. That was her ultimate goal. If she could hit a target from that range on point consistently, she would be very happy, but longer distances meant even more adjustments in order to ensure that the trajectory of her shots were true.

Once again, she quickly swapped out magazines before zooming in as close as she could. She adjusted the SRS99D, looked down the scope and began to breath.

She had the perfect shot and she was going to ace it.

Her trigger finger began to bend slowly.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two

One.

"BOO!" Yang suddenly appeared in her scope.

"What the fu- YANG!" Ruby lifted her head with a frown on her face. "Get out of the way!"

"No, I don't think I will." Yang just sat in front of her rifle. "I think I'll just casually screw up your training."

"Yang, are you being serious?" Ruby threw her arms up in exasperation. "You can't convince me, so you're going to sabotage me? Real mature."

"You're one to talk about maturity, Rubes." Yang snarked. "You ran away from home, you didn't tell us why, you refuse to even listen to me, all to go train with a cyborg."

"Okay, first of all, the Master Chief is a human. If you're going to insult him, pick a term and stick with it." Ruby began listing off her problems. "Second, I didn't run away from home. I left home to forge my own life. Third, I'm not obligated to tell you or dad anything about what happened."

"It looks like we're at an impasse." Yang intentionally obscured as much as possible as she stretched her body in an exaggerated fashion. "Oh, well. Guess I'm not getting out of your hair."

"Do you really want to suffer another humiliation again?" Ruby reminded her sister. "We've beat you multiple times before. We can do it again."

"Pssh, what are you talking about?" Yang pretended like she didn't hear about being beat. "I've never lost a fight, but even if you somehow did manage to kick my butt, I'll always be on yours no matter where you go."

"Fine." Ruby decided that this wasn't working. "Be that way. I'm going to find the Master Chief."

Ruby picked up the sniper rifle and pocketed the remaining magazines scattered around. The weapon was very large and admittedly, she couldn't carry it without the help of aura enhancing her strength. She hoped that her trainer wouldn't be too bent out of shape over this little violation.

"What's your hurry, little sister?" Yang jumped up to place an arm over the shorter girl's neck. "Why don't you let old me handle that for you? It looks really heavy."

"Thanks, but no." Ruby shrugged off the gesture. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you coddling me."

It would be easier if she used her semblance and got away from her elder sister, but she wasn't about to break another rule. She would just have to tough this one out. All that the former scythe-wielder needed to do was treat Yang's presence as a test. From this point forward, she would not react to anything at all that the blonde girl said or did. That would just invoke further provocation.

_Just shut it out._ Ruby chanted to herself. _You're training to be a special operator. You don't have time to be distracted by every little thing._

Once she made up her mind, the silver-eyed girl trudged along with her bimbo of a sister in tow. Mere months ago, the idea of insulting her sister like she just did in her head would have left her aghast. The idea of insulting anyone at all would have left her uncomfortable. She just wasn't that type of person.

How times were changing.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

**2200 Hours**

Yang, for the first time in her life, was at an absolute loss for what to do. Usually when it came to pretty much anything in life, she was guaranteed to have it. When she was a child, she always got what she wanted. The idea that she could always get what she wanted persisted all the way to the present. Although her dad wasn't babying her anymore, she had her own ways of getting what she wanted. She had a killer body and she knew how to use it to get boys to do what she wanted when she wanted.

And on the off chance that she couldn't get what she wanted when she wanted, she had her fists, her aura, and her semblance to see her through any situation. While most guys responded to her leading them on, if that didn't work, they would most definitely respond to violence. She had yet to meet anyone who could provide her with a true challenge and she eagerly waited for that day.

Plus, she was really good at sweet-talking. It was a skill she had developed over time. This skill was more universal and it was applied often considering that she did well in social environments overall.

When it came down to it, she never lost in any situation and in the case of Ruby running away from home, she thought this would be no different.

Now, a week after finding her baby sister, Yang was having absolutely no success no matter what she tried.

Fighting had proven ineffectual. After sustaining consecutive losses, despite her pride, she was forced to admit defeat on that front. She could easily best Ruby in single combat, but that damn robot-cyborg thing wouldn't cave no matter what she did. Even if she was a hothead, the brawler wasn't stupid. She wasn't getting anywhere with this approach.

The next thing she did was attempt to convince her little sister that this was all wrong. To her credit, Yang did well to keep her shock off her face, but nonetheless, she was shocked to find Ruby unresponsive to any form of persuasion. Instead of a stammered reply or a flushed face, there was only indifference or outright cold hostility.

Yang wasn't about to try and seduce anyone because despite Ruby's claim that this Master Chief was a guy, she wasn't convinced. No man could walk and talk like that. In her experience, all guys were very easily distracted and there was still doubt as to whether or not a man or a robot existed in that shell.

But the blonde girl persisted with her efforts all the way until the silver-eyed girl turned in for the night with not a word for her dear older sister, yet she wished that hunk of junk a good night.

The brawler, once she knew for sure that Ruby was asleep, turned her attention towards the one thing that was standing in the way between her and her family. She was still mad, but she reminded herself that unless she wanted another beatdown, she would need to attempt a diplomatic conversation.

So Yang went in guns blazing, much to her distaste. "What are your intentions with my sister."

"To train Ruby Rose as I was trained." The Master Chief stood at attention with a rifle held loosely. "Per her request."

Yang lightly grit her teeth. "Yeah, like convincing a fifteen year-old girl with dreams of being a hero is hard."

"Her reasons for joining me are her own and I have no need to hear them." The golden visor met her eyes. "But regardless of her reasons, she is here by choice and she is enduring this training by choice."

"It's not like her to want to do something like… whatever you're doing." Yang still didn't like it. "If I know my sister as well as I think I do, this something she would never think to do on her own."

The entire day spent she observed what sort of training went on. To say that she was unhappy about it was a gross understatement. The training seemed almost inhumane at times. Physically, Ruby was pushed over and over again. She was not afforded many efforts to rest and her progress was constantly monitored by the green giant. If there was even so much as one slip up, he was upon her in an instant and the girl with silver eyes was forced to move on.

Obstacle courses, calisthenics, running, training drills, lessons, more of everything before, it was a never-ending cycle and there was only enough time for short breaks in between as well as meals. For the most part, it was a day constantly filled with something to do. The only time that wasn't filled was the hour before Ruby went to sleep.

If this was to represent what was going on every day for the past few weeks, then Yang hated this robot even more.

But he wasn't the least bit rattled by any of this. His response was to merely stare at her and not even so much as flinch. That made her infinitely more angry. It was like she couldn't win no matter what she did. If this was the feeling of losing, then she hated it. If she could help it, something like this would never happen again, this she vowed.

Men, for all of their faults, had souls. This thing did not have a soul.

Why even call it a "he?"

"There are gaps in your knowledge." The Master Chief answered her. "And what you don't know is the reason why we are all here today."

"I'm not an idiot. I already know that much, smartass." Yang remarked sarcastically. "What else is new?"

The conversation lulled for a minute. Their conversation was held relatively quiet so as not to wake up the sleeping Ruby. The fire that was crackling also helped to somewhat drown out the noise. This silence was maddening and she wanted to hit him, but again, her losses and her wounded pride held her back.

"Do you not trust your sister at all?" The armored presence questioned abruptly.

"I trust her just fine." Yang didn't let up with her glares. "It's you who I don't trust."

"I say again, this was her choice." The Master Chief was starting to sound like a broken record. "I didn't f-"

"Gods, just shut the fuck up." Yang threw a middle finger. "I don't want to talk to you."

The titan ignored her action. "Then why are you here?"

"I'm here for my sister." Yang declared with her most intimidating voice. "I might not be able to beat you now, but make no mistake, I will get her back. You'd better watch your back, buddy because I will wreck you. That's a promise. I'd rather die than lose another of my family, but what would a machine know about family or even basic humanity?"

Her words seemed to have some sort of effect. His body remained facing her, but his head turned to his right and he stared off into the black night with no more words to offer. It was enough for now and the brawler just bowed her head into her hands and sighed in exhaustion.

She talked a big game, but she was out of ideas and frankly, she had no idea how she could lure Ruby away from here short of ambushing her sister, knocking her unconscious, and rushing back to Vale. That idea lasted all of five seconds before she realized that most likely, she wouldn't get far before she was captured by the Master Chief. There was also the small possibility that Ruby might take more drastic actions once she awoke, maybe sever all ties to the family or something else.

Yang had no idea what a worst-case scenario would look like in reality, but her mind was concocting all sorts of suggestions, none of which suited her.

But there had to be a way for the family to reunite. She had come too far and suffered too much just to see it all end here. The more she thought about the future of her family, the more it brought a chill down her spine.

By chance, her eyes wandered to the towering armored being, his helmet's gold visor still looking to his side, but now his rifle was hanging loosely at his side, held only by his right hand.

"She said that to me once… about being a machine."

The words were so soft that had Yang not been focusing on him, she wouldn't have heard him, but she did and when her ears picked it up, she could hear something else besides the stone cold indifference and might that usually dominated that very low voice. It was the sort of thing that sounded not at all like a robot or a machine and more like a man who was grieving over someone or something.

No matter the blonde girl's dislike of him, she began to wonder if there was indeed a man underneath all of that high-tech gear.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

**0300 Hours, September 12, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

The Master Chief got no sleep during the night until he saw Xiao Long succumb to fatigue and was asleep herself. Once that was done, after checking to make sure that their surroundings were clear, he got a couple of hours of shut eye, awaking only now to get ready for the next set of activities, tasks, and chores needed for training. In order to do these things without awakening the two teenage girls, he quietly maneuvered all the necessary gear and equipment to the training area.

Putting aside the consistent interruptions courtesy of the girl with lilac eyes, Ruby's combat readiness level was increasing rapidly and she was now being put through a battery of different tests to assess her ability to adapt and make snap judgements with only seconds to react to changing conditions. Such things were necessary in order to simulate the realities of combat.

Spartan 117 made these tests even harder by placing his trainee in unfavorable situations like her having to face hypothetical enemies from low ground or limiting the number of magazines available to her or even doing technical word while in the middle of a firefight. Basically, the more scenarios that she had experience with in training, the more she would be prepared in the future.

What was helping all of this training was the war veteran's surging proficiency in his newfound summoning ability. About four nights ago, he had experimented with summoning equipment. The Z-2500 Automated Protection Drone was particularly useful in simulating combat with multiple hostels. Although fighting alone was ill-advised, it was better to be safe than sorry as his experiences on Halo had proven.

As John set about getting the day started, he felt himself a little sluggish. Although he had gotten a couple hours of sleep, his rest was not particularly helpful, quite the opposite in fact. Although he didn't give many indicators outwardly, Xiao Long's words had struck a cord with him.

She called him a machine that was incapable of understanding people let alone families. To an extent, he disagreed with that wording. He knew perfectly well what it meant to have a family. His fellow Spartan-II's had been his family and he would have gone to the ends of the galaxy for them in order to see them through the mission.

But it wasn't that part which he fixated on. It was the part about humanity that he thought about numerous times over. If Cortana were here right now, she would probably be in agreement with the brawler. He knew more about being a machine than he did about being a human even though he was a human.

Being human meant being emotional and being selfish, two things that the Master Chief was most definitely not. He couldn't afford to embrace that which could lead him to making errors in battle. Humans were flawed, imperfect creatures and he and the Spartan-II's were created to reduce those weaknesses, maybe even eliminate them entirely.

But they weren't invincible. They weren't perfect. Just like any other human, Spartans died too. Despite ONI Directive 930's mandate to list all Spartan-II's as MIA in the event of a KIA, the fact remained that so few of the Spartan-II's were actually alive and fewer still were actually MIA. Death was a permanent state and nothing could be done to bring the dead back. It signified the end of the road, the ultimate black mark of imperfection in combat.

Yet here he stood.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 of the United Nations Space Command Navy, assigned to the Special Weapons Division, callsign _Sierra-117_. He was Humanity's ultimate hero, the person that all men and women of the UNSC looked up to as a shining example of what it meant to serve in the military.

Spartan-II's were not perfect, yet they were meant to be the sword and shield of Mankind.

He was supposed to be the sword and shield of Mankind.

That meant he couldn't afford to be human.

Not while Mankind was still in need of him here on Remnant.

His resolve hardened, he pushed aside his doubts and concerns. He had a recruit to train and not enough time to do so.

* * *

**As I hinted in the previous chapter, Yang's role in this story is far from over. It's going to take at least a few more chapters to fully integrate her into the story and finalize her place and she's the second character from the RWBY side to join the fold. There will be plenty more to come, make no mistake about that. I'll leave it to you guys to figure out who's to come next.**

**Also, a reminder to those of you who may have questions regarding if there will be other Halo characters features. The answer is NO. The Master Chief will be the ONLY character featured from the Halo side of things.**

**And boy does the Master Chief have some work to do in order to open up about his true backstory let alone his personal baggage because he's sure got a lot of stuff to unload and until this point, he's never been afforded a chance to do so.**

**While I introduce new characters, the ones that are established will continued to develop and grow as well. They will evolve and grow, but there will still be some traces of the old versions of themselves. Our pasts always define us in one way or another whether we know it or not.**

**Thoughts about this chapter? Reviews and feedback and are appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing you best in these tough times.**

_**"Wisdom begins in wonder."**_

**Socrates**


	13. OPERATION NO FREE LUNCH

**CHAPTER 13: OPERATION NO FREE LUNCH**

** 0400 Hours, September 15, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas**

The Master Chief found himself sleeping a lot less lately, but all of the time he spent awake was time spent either preparing Ruby for her next phase in training doing his own personal training with his ability as well as reviewing everything and anything that he felt was relevant to the current mission at hand.

One thing that he had been rolling around in Spartan 117's head as of late was what to do with his recruit once she had "graduated" from his boot camp. There was no doubt in his mind that the girl was going to pass whatever obstacle he threw at her. She had proven it many times over that despite some of her civilian habits being present, she possessed plenty of discipline, mettel, and talent to overcome whatever might come her way.

John did know for sure that once she completed training, he would have to let her in on the many secrets and inner works of the UNSC. Although she did well to hold her tongue now, their earlier days of training involved her asking questions during her free time. Usually, he would answer with a true, but vague statement. That would have to end soon; if she was to trust him in combat, then she would need to know certain things about the UNSC.

Of course, this brought up concerns about what information he was entitled to reveal to her according to regulations. For example, the true nature of the Spartan-II program was classified at the highest level. Few knew the full story and fewer were still alive to go into detail about the finer details. When thinking about it logically, there was no reason for Ruby to know anything about the Spartan-II's beyond surface-level information that any UNSC serviceman could find out through word of mouth or common knowledge. That being said, she had asked many questions about his origins and he had failed to provide satisfactory answers in all instances. His main point of concern was that she would internalize these questions and continue to ask him.

For now, the Master Chief had decided that should he express any sort of hesitation at sharing information with Ruby, then it was best that he not reveal it at all. Only when his mind was clear of any reasons to withhold information would he then be inclined to speak.

The Spartan also had to take into account what he would need to show the silver-eyed girl in order for her to be able to fully process and accept what she had become a part of. He needed her on the same page as him in all things. Thus, carefully selecting what she was to read and review was critical. Fortunately, MJOLNIR contained his entire service record and even his prior training on Reach, both in video format as well as official documented reports. He just needed to select the most ideal material for her to consume.

Next up on his list of things to do after Ruby's transition into service would be her rank. Normally, a recruit in the Navy would be given the rank of Seaman Recruit. Higher ranks could be awarded based on performance and other factors during the course of training. However, in terms of the Spartan-II's, considering that they spent about eight years in training before departing on their first official mission, they were all given the rank of Petty Officer Third Class. It seemed only appropriate for him to apply that rank in this instance.

And John felt within his authority to grant that rank. Most of his career had seen him with the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer with the express purpose of making sure that junior enlisted and other non-commissioned officers would respond to his orders and advice. Just last night, however, as he was reviewing his own record, he came upon a somewhat surprising revelation.

Apparently, during his time spent in cryostasis aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, he had unceremoniously been given the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. Even now as he was separated from any UNSC forces of any kind, his official rank was given as such. With this unique rank came with its responsibilities. He, in essence, was the voice and representative of all UNSC Navy enlisted servicemen and women. It also meant that all Navy enlisted were to respect his authority and experience.

Personally, the Master Chief didn't feel the need for such a rank, at least not for any bragging rights, but right now, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. If he had authority over all enlisted in the Navy, then he felt comfortable at giving Ruby the rank of Petty Officer Third Class.

Other things to consider was how to best utilize her skills in combat. The spartan would most definitely assign her as a designated marksman. Her accuracy and precision were top notch and he knew that every pull of the trigger was meant to kill. He had been training her exclusively with the M392 DMR and the SRS99D Sniper Rifle, but today seemed like a good time to bust out the BR55 Battle Rifle. Once her proficiency with all three weapons was determined, he would assign her the one that best-suited her wants and needs.

In terms of gear, he was working on that as well. His summoning ability allowed him to materialize more than just weapons. He was hoping to be able to outfit Ruby with an ODST Battle Dress Uniform. It was the closest thing to MJOLNIR that a non-augmented person could wear. Plus, some of the parts could work in conjunction with MJOLNIR, so in the event of armor damage, he could properly assess and make repairs where necessary. The only thing that he needed were his recruit's exact measurements, something that he had yet to do. That was something he would get done today as well.

As he worked quietly, John could hear the distinctive snoring that was coming from Yang Xiao Long, and there lied his most pressing impediment to his mission.

The elder of the two sisters absolutely would not leave them alone no matter what they did. It didn't matter what they said or did; the blonde girl would come back even more determined than before. At a certain point, both he and Ruby had come to the conclusion that it was better to just leave the tagalong alone and pretend that she didn't exist. That only served to anger the brawler, who had ramped up her interruptions.

Annoyances aside, in a way, the Master Chief could wholeheartedly respect Xiao Long's perseverance when it came to family. It was admirable how much the older sister wanted to stick close to her family. In any other setting, it might even evoke an emotional response, but right now, none of that mattered.

As things stood, Spartan 117 had to deal with Yang once and for all. He wouldn't resort to any extreme methods seeing as he might lose Ruby's cooperation. No matter how much his trainee dismissed her half-sister, it was clear to see that the two of them shared a strong bond. He wasn't about to risk a potential mental problem caused by his own hands. He had to play this another way.

The only way he could ever see this arrangement working is if he gave Xiao Long a hard choice: either she would agree to partake in training or she would receive an even more harsh lesson, perhaps one that would leave her permanently unable to pursue both himself and his student. Neither choice was of much appeal to him, but the former was looking to be the superior choice.

The main drawback to the first choice was that Ruby would no doubt not care for the arrangement, but that was inconsequential in the end. Many times in the field, John had encountered all sorts of men and women who held grudges and dislikes of each other, yet were still able to act professionally and save the lives of all their comrades. As another form of test for his first recruit, she would have to 'embrace the suck' as the saying went and get along with Yang Xiao Long whether she liked it or not.

This had been put together rather hastily all things considered, but it seemed to be the only thing to do, at least that's what his gut instinct told him.

The Master Chief briefly stopped what he was doing and considered how he was going to get the blonde to agree to this arrangement. At best, they had a truce of sorts. As long as neither directly interfered with each other, things were fine. That meant the only reliable way to get through Xiao Long would be to employ Ruby's help.

Make that two things that the silver-eyed girl would have to contend with.

Hopefully, this entire situation would be dealt with swiftly. More bodies to train meant more work to do.

* * *

**Halo - - - RWBY**

* * *

** 1200 Hours, September 16, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

Although moments to speak privately between herself and the Master Chief weren't happening often thanks to Yang, Ruby had some stealth reconnaissance training from her CO and used them accordingly. Also, wherever they made camp for the night, the senior NCO made sure to designate a spot for just the two of them to converse.

The girl possessing black hair with red tips had just got done talking with the Master Chief. Apparently, he had been mulling over ways to manage Yang and the ultimate solution he decided on was having her elder half-sister join them in training.

His reasoning for this was quite simple. The blonde girl was becoming too much of a nuisance. At this point, her presence presented more of a threat to their training and environment more than a benefit. There was also the fact that they were providing her food and water and protection out of respect and decency. Now the foot had to be put down; either the brawler had to make herself useful and contribute in some way or she would be forced to leave for good. The second option would probably involve permanent physical damage.

As much as the silver-eyed girl wished that Yang would go away, Ruby couldn't bring herself to bring real harm to her sister. Try as she might to bury the feelings that she had for her family, they wouldn't go away. Years of being together couldn't be erased simply because she had been gone for a little more than a month. She would never admit it out loud, but the younger sister still loved her older sibling.

That being said, Ruby was reluctant to bring Yang into the fold. Yang was nothing if not overprotective. She always had been for as long as memory served. Ruby didn't mind the familial love, but the overprotectiveness was frustrating not to mention annoying. She wasn't some damsel in distress. She hadn't been ever since she chose to pick up a weapon and fight, but that didn't matter. Yang babied her too much and frankly speaking, Ruby was getting tired of it.

But as much as the trainee wanted to voice these complaints and concerns, she didn't. The Master Chief made it clear that it was either this or taking extreme measures. Sucking up whatever feelings she had on the matter, the silver-eyed girl complied with the order given to her. His authority and his word were law to him.

But before Ruby could do anything, she practiced what she was going to say. She had no doubt that whatever came out of her mouth, Yang would eat it up because there was nothing that her big sister wouldn't do for her baby sister. That was how it always worked and many times over, the younger had used that to her advantage. Now, she was about to do the same thing again, but in a completely different context.

Once this was done, they could all get on with it.

"Yang. We need to talk." Ruby noticed the blonde toying with her weapon. "And please be careful with my SRS99D."

"Let's just pretend that I don't know what you're talking about." Yang perked up at the company. "So what's up, little sis? You finally come to your senses."

"Shut up and let me speak." Ruby made it clear that she wasn't in the mood for pointless chatter. "If you want to stay with us, then fine, but we need to lay a few ground rules."

"Ground rules?" Yang scoffed. "I don't have to-"

"You will follow these rules." Ruby interrupted, raising her voice. "Either you do or we take you down and you never see us again."

"Look, I stopped being a total bitch." Yang pointed out. "What more do you want from me?"

It was true that the brawler had been unusually more silent than usual. The hostility towards the Master Chief had subsided considerably, but it was still there.

"If you insist on staying here, then you need to pull your weight." Ruby crossed her arms. "And you're going to do that by training."

"With you?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Believe me, it's not as fun as it looks." Ruby shook her head. "And don't think for a minute that you'll be using your aura or your semblance. It's all about your baseline physical and mental abilities."

"Tch, piece of cake." Yang again dismissed the warnings. "I'm an unarmed fighter. I can handle being a little physical. Besides, I didn't agree to be a drone like you did. I'm here to bring you home, whatever I have to do."

"And if you don't fix the attitude right now, then we're going to kick your ass for our own reasons." Ruby threw back. "I'll say it again: will you comply or not?"

"Nope." Yang didn't appear the least moved. "I'm here to look after you, not play soldier."

Ruby gave a look. "This is Navy training, not Army training."

"Whatever." Yang didn't care. "And seriously, the Navy? We ain't anywhere near water."

"I don't care what you think." Ruby drawled. "If you're not going to train, get out."

"What, are you going to make me?" Yang challenged.

It was faint, but the brawler's fists were shaking a little bit. No matter how much the blonde was putting on a tough act, the fact of the matter was that she wouldn't be able to bring herself to attack her younger sister.

The girl with silver eyes, however, had no such reservations as she drew her M6D sidearm from her side and aimed it squarely between Yang's eyes.

"I won't ask again." Ruby took aim. "Either get with the program or get lost. It's your choice."

Yang narrowed her eyes. "You can't be-"

Ruby adjusted her aim so that the bullet that she discharged from the handgun whizzed past Yang's ear, taking with it several strands of blonde hair. For a moment, there was shock on Yang's face, but soon her mind caught up.

So it appeared there were things that her older sister wouldn't listen to. So much for listening to everything.

"Why you little brat." Yang's eyes lit up in anger and her aura flared. "You think you're so tough. Huh?!"

Ruby said nothing, instead firing another shot, this time aiming straight and true. Now that Yang's aura was up, there was no need to hesitate. The next shot impacted right in the center of her forehead, causing yellow aura to flare up and protect its wielder from damage.

"RUBY!" Yang stepped forward ready to act. "What the fu-"

The fifteen-year old used her semblance to near-instantaneously appear behind her sister's back, then used the butt of her sidearm to strike at the back of the leg, causing the blonde to fall to one knee.

"Fall in line." Ruby repeated. "Or things won't end well for you."

"I'm trying to save you!" Yang shouted in defiance. "Not become a slave myself!"

"I say again." Ruby jammed the barrel of her weapon into the back of the brawler's head in order to intimidate. "Fall in line or leave."

"What, you're just going to shoot me?" Yang's fear was evident.

"I'm thinking about it." Ruby threatened.

This was getting out of hand real quick. The silver-eyed teenager had come here to convince her sister to join them peacefully. Now she was making use of potentially deadly force in order to force compliance. Her bitterness towards this whole situation certainly wasn't doing anyone favors.

Her wording needed to change.

Breathe in.

Breath out.

The M6D was lowered and placed back in its holster and Ruby moved herself to stand in front of Yang before lowering herself to her own knees and grasping the older girl's chin in her hand.  
"Look, we're getting nowhere arguing like this. You want to make sure that I'm safe." Ruby decided to make an appeal. "I want to finish this training and move on with life. We can do what we both want and not kill each other in the process."

"You've got a real funny way of showing it, Rubes." Yang wasn't amused. "First you shoot me, then you play nice."

"As much as I hate you being here, I don't hate you." Ruby had a grave expression adorned on her features. "And I don't want to keep pounding you. What would dad say if he saw us like this?"

That question was more than enough to get a reaction out of Yang. The brawler went through a myriad of emotions, which manifested as small, but visible changes in her own expressions. This was a step in the right direction.

"So you want a truce." Yang appeared to have finally come to her own decision. "What does that look like?"

"Simple." Ruby softened her face slightly. "You do as the Master Chief says, you get to stay with us and you won't have to risk bodily harm from either of us. Training-wise, I'm sure the Chief's got something lined up already."

Now they were getting somewhere.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

** 0530 Hours, September 17, 2557 (Military Calendar)**

Yang felt like she was making a deal with the devil, but once she reminded herself of why she was out here in the first place, she could make peace with the fact that she had sold her soul. If it was to ensure the safety of her baby sister, then any sacrifice was worth it. That was what family did for each other, even if said family was acting like a spoiled and unreasonable child. Or maybe this was a phase.

Whatever the case, the brawler decided that anything was better than the pre-existing status quo that had been going on for nearly a week. After their talk, she had been given the rest of the day to herself in order to prepare, but like she had proclaimed before, a little physical training wasn't what bothered her. She was going to ace this thing and do whatever else she needed in order to find a way to get Ruby out of this hellhole.

There wasn't a plan so to speak. As far as the buxom beauty was concerned, she would make it up as she went along. She was never the type of girl that chose to devise a strategy of her own will. Bashing through obstacles with brute force had always been her way of doing things. It was aggravating that this time around, things weren't going as she had envisioned. She had underestimated the entire situation.

As much as she didn't care to strategize, it looked like Yang was going to have to be a little smarter about this than usual. Playing it by ear wasn't going to be enough. She had to look for opportunities to exploit, anything to get her sister away from all of this. Ruby just wasn't meant for this sort of thing.

Even though her stance on the Master Chief had softened slightly, it didn't change her opinion that his way of doing things didn't suit her baby sister. Going through with this meant that the silver-eyed girl wouldn't ever be the same again. Their entire dynamic wouldn't be the same. The entire situation wasn't salvageable, but maybe there were pieces that could be put back together and with time away from it all, healing could take place, both physically and mentally.

However, at the same time, there was a growing dark feeling in the back of the blonde brawler's mind. While she did consistently view Ruby's mentality as naive, she didn't believe her sister to be stupid. The former aspiring huntress had always strived to become a huntress, the ultimate epitome of being a heroine. For the longest time, that dream seemed less like a dream and more like a destiny for the speedster. The idea that Ruby could have doubts about her dream let alone abandon it entirely was laughable.

But reality appeared to tell otherwise. Yang could only surmise that something had broken her half-sister so thoroughly that this was the result: a shadow.

And now the buxom beauty herself was about to find out how that shadow of her sister was being trained.

"MOVE FASTER! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!" The robot was now screaming, which had to mean he was indeed a living person. "HURRY IT UP!"

At first, it was easy. Calisthenic exercises by themselves weren't particularly tough. She went through a couple hundred of each unique movement given to her. She had done this type of thing before in her training. Hell, she still did it in order to keep herself in top physical form. That wasn't the problem.

What was problematic was the fact that she was being given no breaks. Absolutely no breaks were being given in-between exercises, a fact that she knew was not a good thing in the long run when it came to building up greater strength and endurance, but it would seem that conventional fitness wisdom didn't apply now.

"I SAID MOVE FASTER, RECRUIT!" The Chief barked at her. "IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE ROUTINE, THEN YOU CAN DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN PROPERLY!"

Man, Yang hated his guts right about now. It was bad enough that she had to be woken up at 4:30 in the morning just to deal with all of this bullshit. Now she was being treated like a child and that was more than a little degrading to her pride as a warrior.

Why was she doing this again?

_All for Ruby._ Yang reminded herself of the ultimate goal. _If I do this, Ruby will respect me again, and then we're out of here._

Speaking of her younger sister, out of the corner of her eye, the blonde brawler caught glimpses of the girl doing her own drills. It looked like Ruby had all but immersed herself into this new environment without so much as a look of complaint. Nothing but a mask of determination and focus could be spotted. Occasionally, the fifteen-year old would pause to see what was going on, stare for a few moments, then get back to work.

It hurt Yang that she was being looked at so indifferently.

"MAYBE I WASN'T CLEAR ENOUGH THE FIRST TIME!" The Master Chief towered over. "YOUR ONLY CONCERN IS YOURSELF RIGHT NOW! FIX YOUR ATTITUDE, OR I WILL FIX IT FOR YOU!"

Right, she had to concentrate on here and now. There would be time to think about how to get through this alive and sane with Ruby by her side. She just had to power through this and everything would turn out okay.

The next half an hour was spent going through all sorts of exercises, some of them familiar to her, others not so much. She was given no time for rest, only pushed further and harder.

Yang wouldn't relent no matter what. Although saving Ruby was the most important thing right now, her pride was also on the line as well. She fancied herself a combatant that could get through any physical challenge. She was, after all, the very best in her class at Signal Academy. This was merely another challenge for her to overcome, as much of a drag as it was. She was no quitter, which was why she always won.

"PICK IT UP! SOMETIME TODAY!" Again, the guy in massive armor was not making a good case for himself. "I'VE SEEN BETTER FROM CHILDREN!"

Okay, that was something that really got on her nerves. Nobody was better than her, least of all children. Did this guy get off on testing her? If that was the case, then he was doing a hell of a job provoking her.

How long could she hold it in?

Yang gritted her teeth and cleared her mind. No, she had to keep going. No matter what he said or what he did, she had to meet and surpass what he expected. Maybe then, he would be given a legitimate reason to fear her.

_It must be nice to be Ruby right now._ Yang could only complain mentally. _She doesn't have to get yelled at right now. She's got the fun stuff._

The blonde brawler didn't have long to muse on her situation and its unfairness. The next obstacle was on its way. Now they were running and both of them were out on a flat field. Frankly, she was amazed that he was able to keep up with her in such heavy-looking armor. No, he wasn't just keeping up. He was surpassing her.

_Seriously?_ Yang could only wonder. _How?_

Was he using aura? No, it didn't look like it. She had detected no traces of any aura usage and the buxom beauty knew what to look for. She couldn't see any glow, she couldn't detect any energy, and she couldn't sense anything unusual. It was just him and some armor. Either she was being duped big time or he really was that physically capable.

Either choice meant that he was really good.

"I SAID MARCH, NOT JOG!" Behind that golden visor, she could only imagine what was going on. "WE CAN ALWAYS GO TWENTY KILOMETERS IF YOU'RE SO RELAXED!"

Yang banished any further distractions from her head. No more complaining, no more wandering, and no more hesitation. She was being tested, that much she was sure of. All she needed to do was focus on the here and now. Then she could figure out the finer details regarding her and Ruby's exit.

Whoever this guy was, he wasn't about to take away a part of her family. Nobody came between her and Ruby, not now, not ever. She was willing to do anything to protect those that she loved, even join the enemy if that's what it took.

Now she had to prove that to her baby sister. Rebellious or not, this wasn't the right way. Abandoning family was never the right way.

Just fifteen more kilos.

* * *

**RWBY - - - Halo**

* * *

** 2300 Hours**

The Master Chief had to admit that in terms of pure physical ability, Yang Xiao Long far surpassed her younger sister. To that end, he intentionally drew out her physical training in order to drain her. It had taken a lot of effort on his part, but after a few hours of continuous exercise without rest, she was finally exhausted.

He needed to break her in because he was fully aware that she was resisting him. Even if she followed as he said, there was a look in her eye that spoke of her disliking of the situation and most likely him by extension. Her unrestrained emotions didn't intimidate him in the least, but they certainly did remind him of someone.

Kelly-087 had similar problems with controlling her emotions. In fact, the rabbit of the Spartan-II's was among the few that was initially resistant to complying with orders in the early days of training. It had taken many years to finally get herself to stop fighting and listen to her superiors, but even during their bouts with the Insurrection and during the war with the Covenant, she displayed moments of highly-intense emotional outbursts. Perhaps to a normal person, these were only subtle shows, but for the disciplined and controlled Spartan-II's, these displays were considered highly emotional.

Strangely enough, Yang wasn't the only one that reminded him of someone in his spartan family.

Ruby Rose was far more willing to accept that she had weaknesses that needeed to be either subdued or eliminated entirely. Her strengths were more mental than physical. Although her physical abilities were growing by the day, the fifteen-year old was far more capable as a strategist and tactician. She may yet even hold the potential to lead with her clear head and dedication to achieving great results.

Fred-104 also these traits. He too was a natural leader, being tactically competent and strategially competent. He placed the most value on the mind above all other things. That was what enabled him to win his battles and come out alive alongside the spartans and other UNSC servicemen he led. He was also able to put aside his feelings and discomforts in favor of achieving the mission by any means necessary, but he wasn't completely professional all the time. Occasionally, he was known to crack jokes or make quips.

Drawing these parallels, Spartan 117 felt like he might have a better grasp on dealing with these two girls personaliy-wise, at least he would in Xiao Long's case. For now, he would see the effects of continually increasing pressure on the blonde girl were. He had a feeling that only with unyielding force was he going to have a shot at getting her under control. As for Ruby, now might be a good time to introduce some leadership training and see if she responded positively or not.

As always, John found himself on watch as he witnessed the two teenage girls slumbering, one quietly, the other very loudly. Despite them both conducting individual exercises, they were both exhausted. As soon as they relaxed their bodies, they were instantly asleep.

It seemed like tonight was going to be a steady night as virtually all nights in the past, but just like he always did, he briefly left his two trainees to check the perimeter for any signs of danger, be it Grimm or otherwise.

The first few minutes of patrolling turned up nothing unusual. Aside from the sounds of nature and the wildlife surrounding him, there was nothing that could be considered a threat. Being this far into the mountains, Grimm attacks were extremely rare. The terrain acted as a barrier to keep the monsters far away from Vale's east side.

Then the Master Chief, by chance, looked down at his armored boots. His eyes focused for a moment. He paused in thought as he realized that something was laying there, something that didn't belong in this environment.

Taking a knee, the spartan took his left hand off his weapon and gingerly picked up the out of place item. Careful not to crush the small item with his hands, he brought it up to his visor to inspect it.

In his hand was a worn black ribbon with much wear and tear.

And it appeared to be recently discarded.

* * *

**THIS IS A GENERAL REMINDER TO ALL OF MY READERS. I WILL BE LEAVING FOR BASIC COMBAT TRAINING ON AUGUST 4TH. JULY, THIS MONTH, WILL BE THE LAST MONTH THAT I POST CHAPTERS FOR ANY OF MY STORIES. UPDATES WILL RESUME IF AND WHEN I AM ABLE. UNTIL THAT DAY COMES, EXPECT NO FURTHER UPDATES FROM THIS STORY.**

**ALSO, WHILE I'M GONE, I'LL PROBABLY DEVELOP SOME NEW IDEAS ABOUT STORIES, NEW AND EXISTING. I'VE GOT SOME IDEAS CURRENTLY ON MY PROFILE PAGE. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THEM, MAKE THAT INTEREST KNOWN BY VOTING ON THE POLE WHICH IS ALSO ON MY PROFILE PAGE.**

**Now for this chapter's notes.**

**Getting Yang into the groove of this story will take time. Unlike Ruby, she's still intact mentally speaking, which means she's going to fight back as much as she can. The question is this: will she be able to stay in the game long enough to do what she wants?**

**Ruby continues to be resistant to any form of contact with her sister outside of necessary contact. She still has some healing to do and her state of mind could get better or worse depending on what happens next. Maybe her old self isn't completely lost.**

**And the Master Chief begins to draw some parallels between the company he now keeps and the people he once considered to be family. To that extent, he seems to have a better grasp on how to mold two moody teen girls into the special operators that he intends to make them into.**

**Finally, I think most of you can take a guess at what's to come down the line, or should I say, "who's" to come down the line.**

**Thoughts? Reviews and feedback are always appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all on the flip side.**

**-Ktyou**


End file.
